IN  MEMOR.IAIA 
JcV:n  Sv/ett 


i 


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COLOR 


IN  TH?: 


SCHOOL^ROOIVI. 


A     Ps/LANIJAL     KOR     TTEACHKRS. 


IVLILXON    BRADIvKY    CO., 

Springfield,  Mass. 


Copyrighted,  Isik). 
By   MIT/rOX   BRADLEY    ("O 

sriUXCiFIELD,     MASS. 

:5b  :  'is 


PREFACE. 


In  teaching  color  to  young  children  there  is  a  great  difference 
of  opinion  as  to  methods,  just  as  there  is  a  difference  of 
opinion  regarding  all  other  branches  of  education  at  the  pres- 
ent time.  Indeed,  color  teaching  as  a  systematic  branch  of 
primary  education  is  in  its  infancy,  consequently  each  educator 
with  positive  ideas  on  the  subject  ought  to  give  a  fair  consider- 
ation to  the  opinion  of  all  others  who  have  experience  in  gen- 
eral education  and  interest  enough  in  this  branch  to  devote  to 
it  any  considerable  thought. 

In  teaching  color  two  things  at  least  are  necessary.  First, 
we  must  have  some  standard  to  which  we  can  refer  all  colors. 
Second,  we  must  have  some  nomenclature  by  which  colors  can 
be  known  and  referred  to.  In  the  spectrum  are  an  infinite  num- 
ber of  hues,  six  of  which  at  least  are  well  separated  from 
each  other  and  by  general  agreement  are  accepted  as  natural 
standards :  Red,  Orange,  Yellow,  Green,  Blue  and  Violet. 
With  these  six  colors  either  in  pigments  or  in  colored  lights  we 
may  ver}^  easily  imitate  the  intermediate  hues  of  the  spectrum. 
Therefore,  having  these  six  colors  established  and  named,  if  we 
can  mix  two  of  them  in  a  definite  proportion  of  each  and  record 
this  mixture  in  mathematical  terms,  we  secure  a  nomenclature 
for  the  intermediate  hues  and  other  combinations.  If  the  pro- 
portions used  in  combinations  could  be  determined  by  the 
measurement  or  weight  of  the  pigments  employed  there  might 
have  been  in  use,  ages  since,  some  accepted  nomenclature,  but 
no  argument  is  necessary  to  prove  that  we  cannot  establish 
the  hue  of  a  compound  color  by  either  weighing  or  measuring 
the  pigments  used  to  produce  it.  Accepting  this  condition,  we 
must  look  for  some  other  available  means,  and  in  the  Maxwell 


2  PREFACE. 

rotating  disks  we  find  the  most  practicable  device  yet  known, 
as  hy  them  we  measure  surfaces  of  reflected  light  instead  of 
weight  or  bulk  of  pigments.  By  these  we  are  able  with  six 
standards  to  produce  close  imitations  of  the  intermediate  spec- 
trum hues,  and  other  combinations.  Inasmuch  as  pigment 
colors  cannot  approach  in  brilliancy  the  colors  of  light,  and 
therefore  all  art  is  at  best  a  poor  imitation  of  nature,  we  nmst 
conclude  that  at  present,  at  least,  we  cannot  establish  those  ab- 
solutely perfect  standards  and  that  definite  nomenclature  which 
is  possible  in  the  more  exact  sciences,  but  this  should  not  deter 
us  from  attempting  the  best  that  now  seems  possible,  trusting 
to  others  with  greater  experience  or  the  aggregation  of  the  ex- 
perience of  many  others  in  future  to  perfect  the  work  of  the 
present  or  to  demonstrate  new  methods  based  on  new  discov- 
eries and  greater  information.  Those  artists  who  begin  color 
education  with  three  pigments,  a  red,  a  yellow  and  a  blue, 
and  assume  to  produce  from  them  a  harmonious  scale  of  hues 
somewhat  in  imitation  of  the  solar  spectrum  on  which  to  base 
their  teaching,  fall  short  of  their  aim  in  at  least  two  important 
points.  First,  they  do  not  approach  very  closely  to  the  spec- 
trum hues,  as  it  is  impossible  to  do  with  any  single  set  of  three 
pigments,  and  secondly,  they  have  no  accurate  and  uniform 
means  of  naming  even  those  special  hues  which  they  do  make. 
Therefore  the  next  teacher  of  color  constructs  another  and 
different  standard,  a  harmonious  scale  which  is  as  devoid  of  all 
nomenclature  as  the  other,  thus  making  confusion  worse  con- 
founded. As  the  present  indefinite  condition  of  color  in  art  is 
the  result  of  a  trial  of  this  method  for  hundreds  of  years,  it 
would  seem  at  least  reasonable  to  attempt  a  solution  of  the 
difficulty  in  another  line  of  investigation  which  promises  so 
much  better  results. 

Instead  of  assuming  that  there  are  three  pigment  colors 
from  which  all  colors  in  nature  may  be  produced,  as  is  done  in 
some  professed  treatises  on  color,  we  deny  that  all  colors  can 
be  made  from  ANY  SINGLE  TRIAD  OF  PIGMENTS.  Bas- 
ing our  investigations  on  the  fact  that  all  the  colors  in  nature 


PREFACE.  8 

are  produced  by  the  mixture  of  colored  light  and  not  of  pig- 
ments, aiul  on  the  accepted  fact  that  in  the  solar  spectrum,  we 
have  a  complete  analysis  of  light  into  its  simple  elements  and 
that  with  six  of  those  colors  we  can  by  mechanical  combination 
very  closely  imitate  all  the  intermediate  hues,  we  attempt  to 
suggest  a  line  of  color  study  and  investigation  which  shall  at 
once,  be  simple  and  scientific.  We  also  maintain  that  this  line 
is  as  applicable  to  aesthetic  effects  in  its  higher  grades  as  any 
other  system  which  is  not  founded  on  a  scientific  basis.  If 
there  is  truth  in  the  theory  at  present  accepted  that  white  light, 
the  sum  of  all  the  colors  in  nature,  can  be  produced  from  three 
colors,  these  certainly  are  not  red,  yellow  and  blue,  but,  ac- 
cording to  the  Young  theory,  they  are  red,  green  and  violet. 

If,  however,  we  accept  the  six  spectrum  colors,  w^e  can  pro- 
duce with  them  very  close  imitations  of  the  other  spectrum 
colors  and  the  other  colors  of  nature,  both  in  light  and  in  pig- 
ments. Therefore  as  nature  has  provided  itself  with  these 
colors  which  have  been  so  long  recognized  and  accepted  as 
standards,  why  not  adopt  them  and  save  further  trouble? 

While  it  may  be  possible  to  produce  an  unlimited  number  of 
other  scales  of  colors  w^hich  may  be  near  or  remote  imitations 
of  the  standard  nature  has  set  for  us  in  the  solar  spectrum  and 
made  familiar  in  the  clouds,  who  shall  assume  to  say  which 
of  them  all  must  be  accepted  as  a  universal  standard.  Hav- 
ing adopted  the  six  spectrum  colors  as  standards,  we  believe 
the  rotating  disks  are  the  most  practicable  and  valuable  means 
for  making  combinations  and  for  establishing  a  scientific  no- 
menclature of  colors.  Therefore  an  educational  line  of  colored 
papers  has  been  manufactured,  which  is  offered  as  a  fair  repre- 
sentation of  the  standards  and  some  of  their  combinations  with 
each  other  and  with  black  and  white  by  means  of  the  rotating 
disks.  To  these  may  be  added  many  colors,  possibly  more 
beautiful  in  themselves,  and  in  their  combinations,  than  is 
found  in  this  limited  educational  list,  but  when  the  results 
educationally  are  considered  we  claim  that  the  superiority  of 
these  colors  for  educational  work  will  be  generally  conceded. 


4  PREFACE. 

Thus  far  the  study  of  color  has  been  from  two  different 
stand-points,  and  little  attempt  has  been  made  to  combine  the 
two  in  any  practical  system.  The  scientist  has  analyzed  sun- 
light and  by  experiment  demonstrated  many  valuable  facts 
concerning  the  laws  which  govern  the  colors  of  objects  in  na- 
ture. By  the  artist  these  demonstrations  are  deemed  to  be  of 
very  little  value,  because  the  scientist  must  deal  with  the  im- 
material colors  of  light,  while  the  painter  has  only  to  consider 
the  use  of  pigments,  hence  there  is  very  little  in  common  to 
both.  But  to  an  educator  who  is  neither  a  professional  scien- 
tist nor  an  artist  it  seems  that,  inasmuch  as  all  color  is  derived 
solely  from  one  source,  namely  sunlight,  there  must  be  a  philo- 
sophical connection  between  the  two  classes  of  students  that 
ouoht  to  be  established.  The  artists  on  one  side  assert  that 
there  are  three  pigments,  red,  yellow  and  blue,  from  which  all 
others  can  be  made,  and  their  natural  deduction  from  the  prop- 
osition is  that  there  can  be  no  mathematical  or  mechanical 
formulas  established  for  the  construction  of  colors  and  hence 
no  rules  for  producing  aesthetic  combinations  of  colors,  conse- 
quently all  art  education  in  color  must  be  imparted  personally 
to  the  pupil  by  a  teacher  who  has  himself  received  a  complete 
art  education.  The  scientist  separates  sunlight,  the  source  of 
all  color,  into  its  simple  elements  as  shown  in  the  solar  spec- 
trum, and  with  these  colors  he  produces  by  combination  vari- 
ous other  colors  which  may  be  definitely  recorded  and  shows 
that  all  the  colors  in  nature  are  produced  by  a  separation  of 
these  elements  by  methods  for  which  he  has  formulated  plausi- 
ble theories. 

It  is  the  object  of  this  book  to  harmonize  these  two  phases 
of  color  education  and  to  present  apparatus  and  material  for 
primary  color  teaching,  also  furnishing  the  primary  teacher 
who  may  not  have  been  favored  with  an  art  education,  with 
sufficient  information  to  begin  the  use  of  the  material  at  hand 
in  a  systematic  way  and  to  inspire  a  desire  for  further  informa- 
tion in  this  most  fascinating  line  of  investigation.  We  claim 
that,   as  stated  by  the  scientists,  the  solar  spectrum  gives  us 


PREFACE.  o 

the  colors  from  wliicli  all  otlier  colors  in  nature  are  produced, 
thr.t  all  the  effects  seen  in  nature  by  the  artist  are  produced  by 
a  combination  of  these  colored  lights  which  are  retlected  to  his 
eye,  and  hence  his  otlice  is  to  imitate  such  colors  to  the  best  of 
his  ability  with  the  pio:ment  colors  at  his  command.  The  study 
of  color  is  one  thing  and  the  study  of  pigments  is  another,  al- 
though practically  and  closely  related  to  it. 

If  color  teaching  is  to  be  accomplished  by  any  other  method 
than  personal  instruction  there  must  be  some  systematic  no- 
menclature of  colors  which  shall  be  as  definite  as  possible,  by 
which  the  printed  page  may  communicate  information  in  this 
as  well  as  in  all  other  branches  of  education. 

The  instruction  in  our  public  schools  should  aim  at  such 
practical  and  wage-earning  results  as  are  compatible  with  true 
education,  and  hence  in  teaching  color  those  scientific  facts 
should  be  emphasized  which  when  undc  rstood  will  avoid  that 
defect  Avhich  a  prominent  w^riter  attributes  to  English  manu- 
factures previous  to  the  revival  of  art  in  manufactures  which 
was  inspired  by  the  great  world's  exhibition  of  1851,  when  he 
says  : — 

"Color,  a  universal  source  of  enjoyment,  so  essential  an 
element  of  decorative  art,  has  not  been  hitherto  the  subject  of 
such  investigations  as  to  place  its  powers,  harmonies  and  dis- 
cordances among  matters  of  scientific  certainty.  A  few  tradi- 
tionary dogmjjs  have  been  the  only  guide  of  ordinar}^  workmen, 
while  success  in  design,  as  well  as  in  the  higher  regions  of  art, 
has  been  dependent  upon  that  rare  union  of  faculties  vaguely 
denoted  by  the  indefinite,  unsatisfactory  term,  'taste.'  " 

No  candid  student  of  this  color  question  will  deny  that  all 
true  laws  in  harmonies  and  contrasts  are  as  applicable  to  high 
art  as  to  decorative  art. 

Hitherto  all  attempts  to  teach  color  in  the  primary  grades,  if 
governed  by  any  knowledge  of  the  subject,  have  been  almost 
wholly  from  the  {esthetic  side,  while  the  science  of  color  as 
briefly  suggested  in  the  school  text-books  on  physics  has  been 
separated   from   the   artistic  consideration  of  the  subject.      Al- 


6  PREFACE. 

though  from  a  scientific  stand-point  the  claim  has  constantly 
been  made  that  the  solar  spectrum  furnishes  the  onl}-  standard 
of  colors  which  is  worthy  of  the  name,  yet  few  artists  have 
been  willing  to  acknowledge  this  fact,  or  if  they  have  done  so 
it  has  been  with  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders.  A  striking  illustra- 
tion of  this  statement  is  found  in  the  elaborate  color  chart  of 
Dr.  Hugo  Magnus  and  Prof.  B.  Joy  Jeffries,  published  a  few- 
years  ago.  AVhile  the  red,  orange  and  yellow  given  in  this 
chart  approach  the  spectrum  standards,  the  green,  blue  and 
violet  vary  widely  from  spectrum  colors  and  the  shades  and 
tints  are  made  up  without  strict  regard  to  scientific  truth.  And 
if  this  is  the  case  with  so  good  an  authority  as  Dr.  Jeffries 
what  could  be  expected  of  the  average  artist  and  art  teacher  ? 
It  has  often  been  said  that  while  the  colors  of  the  spectrum  are 
well  known  they  can  not  be  used  in  any  way  for  establishing 
standards.  This  proposition  we  do  not  admit,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  affirm  that  the  spectrum  is  the  only  source  from  which  to 
determine  standards  and  that  the  combinations  of  the  colored 
rays  of  light,  from  these  standards  without  the  mechanical  mix- 
ture of  pigments,  are  the  only  sources  of  other  standards  to  which 
all  colors  must  be  referred.  Even  the  best  educated  eyes  do  not 
agree  as  to  the  more  subtle  color  combinations,  but  this  is  also 
true  in  music  and  literature  and  is  no  argument  against  the 
possible  establishment  of  a  science  of  color  which  shall  apply 
to  art.  If  things  assumed  to  be  true  in  this  book  are  later 
proved  to  be  untrue  it  will  be  nothing  more  than  has  occurred 
in  similar  attempts  along  other  lines  for  ages.  Therefore  we 
begin  with  the  simplest  problems  in  color  and  give  only  those 
facts  necessary  to  present  this  phase  of  the  matter,  namely, 
color  education,  leaving  the  study  of  the  deeper  truths  to  be 
presented  to  those  who  care  for  them  by  scientists  and  artists 
who  have  written  and  will  continue  to  write  more  elaborate 
treatises  on  this  subject.  The  necessity  for  condensation 
makes  it  impossible  for  us  to  state  all  the  facts  with  such  sci- 
entific exactness  as  would  naturally  be  desired  by  critical 
readers,  but  an   attempt  is  made  to  avoid  any  statement  that 


PREFACE.  7 

may  be  misleading  or  is  absolutely  incorrect.  In  some  cases 
repetitions  of  statements  occur  because  it  seems  desirable  to 
bring  them  into  connection  with  new  truths  or  theories  more 
forcibly  than  could  otherwise  be  done. 

The  book  is  not  in  any  sense  a  manual  of  instruction  as  to 
the  details  of  teaching  color,  neither  shall  we  undertake  to  say 
exactly  which  combinations  of  colors  are  the  best.  But  the 
general  laws  of  color  and  color  combinations  are  so  stated  as 
to  give  the  teacher  hints  as  to  the  directions  in  which  she  may 
expect  to  find  good  combinations,  so  as  to  help  her  to  feel  the 
combinations  for  herself  and  lead  the  children  to  the  same 
results. 

A  review  of  the  various  authors  on  color  has  convinced  us 
of  the  want  of  some  popular  elementary  treatise  concerning  this 
subject,  a  want  that  is  at  least  suggested  by  the  fact  that  the 
erroneous  statement  that  blue  and  yellow  light  combined  make 
green  occurs  in  at  least  three  valuable  and  popular  books. 
First,  in  a  recent  text  book  prepared  especially  for  primary 
education  in  natural  sciences.  Second,  in  a  valuable  treatise 
on  water-color  painting.  Third,  in  one  of  the  most  popular 
and  standard  cyclopedias.  How  many  more  similar  errors 
may  be  found  b}^  more  extended  examination  remains  to  be 
seen,  but  these  serve  to  enforce  the  fact  that  very  little 
thought  has  been  given  to  the  science  of  color  by  writers  on 
art  subjects. 

The  last  two  chapters  of  this  book  are  written  by  a  teacher 
who  has  had  considerable  experience  in  color  instruction  in  the 
public  schools.  They  are  intended  chiefly  as  hints  to  beginners 
in  this  line  of  work,  as  each  teacher  will,  of  course,  adopt  certain 
methods  of  her  own,  as  they  from  time  to  time  suggest  them- 
selves to  her.  A  list  of  a  few  books  of  moderate  size  and  cost 
is  appended,  to  which  any  one  may  refer  who  has  the  interest 
to  warrant  a  little  time  for  the  further  investigation  of  a  sub- 
ject which  becomes  very  fascinating  to  those  who  are  willing 
to  enroll  themselves  as  its  votaries. 

Perhaps   no  other  single  book  will  give  so  clearly  and  briefly 


8  PREFACE. 

the  general  infcrmation  ou  color  required  by  the  teacher  as  the 
Student's  Text  Book  of  Color ;  or  Modern  Chromatics  with 
Applications  to  Art  and  Industry,  by  O.  N.  Rood,  Professor  of 
Physics  in  Columbia  College,  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York. 

Another  valuable  book  is  The  Theory  of  Color  in  its  Rela- 
tion to  Art  and  Art  Industry,  by  Dr.  AVilhelm  Yon  Bezold, 
Professor  of  Physics  at  the  Royal  Polytechnic  School  at 
Munich  and  Member  of  the  Royal  Bavarian  Academy  of 
Sciences,  Translated  frcm  the  German  by  S.  R.  Koehler,  with 
an  introduction  by  Edward  C.  Pickering,  Professor  of  Physics, 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  L.  Prang  &  Co.,  Bos- 
ton. This  book  is  more  extended  in  certain  lines  of  thought 
and  not  as  comprehensive  as  the  first  named  and  is  invaluable 
to  any  one  interested  in  the  subject  of  which  it  treats,  namely, 
the  application  of  the  science  of  color  to  the  fine  arts. 

A  third  book  worthy  of  consideration  is  The  Laws  of  the 
Contrasts  of  Color  and  their  Application  to  the  Arts  of  Paint- 
ing, Decoration  of  Buildings,  Mosaic  Work,  Tapestry  and 
Carpet  Weaving,  Calico  Printing,  etc.,  by  M.  Chevreul,  Di- 
rector of  the  dye  works  of  the  Gobelin,  George  Routledge  & 
Sons,  London.  The  author  of  this  work  was  in  charge  of 
the  dye  works  of  the  celebrated  Gobelin  manufacturers  and 
all  his  deductions  are  in  strict  accord  with  actual  experience. 
On  the  subject  of  harmonies  and  contrasts  no  other  work  of 
its  size  contains  so  much  truth. 

In  addition  to  what  is  found  in  these  and  other  books  ou 
color,  much  information  may  be  obtained  from  any  modern 
editions  of  cyclopedias  under  the  two  heads  of  Light  and  Color. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter. 

I.  The    Necessity    of    Color    Teachinu:  in    Primar}'^ 

Schools     ..... 

II.  Color  Definitions        .... 

III.  Color  Blindness         .... 

r\".  The  Theory  of  Light  and  Color 

V.  Is  There  a  Standard  of  Color? 

VI.  How  to  Utilize  the  Spectrum  as  a  Standard    of 

Color        ..... 

VII.  The  Use  of  the  Rotating  Disks 

VIII.  The  Demand  for  a  Definite  Color  Nomenclature 

IX.  The  Proper  Combination  of  Colors     . 

X.  The  Bradley  Scheme  of  Colored  Papers 

XI.  Colored  Paper  in  the  School-Room 

XII.  Water  Colois  in  the  School-Room 


Page. 

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18 
25 
30 
39 

47 
52 

GO 
67 
71) 
83 
04 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    NECESSITY    OF    COLOR    TEACHING    IN 
PRIMARY  SCHOOLS. 

mHY  is  it  essential  to  teach  children  the  facts  relating 
to  color? 

Because  there  is  so  much  color  in  nature  and  we  aim  to  bring 
the  child  into  the  closest  possible  sympathy  with  nature.  Be- 
cause his  color  perceptions  need  cultivation,  just  as  much  as 
his  musical  or  mathematical  perceptions,  his  appreciation  of  a 
correct  literary  style,  or  in  fact,  any  of  his  faculties  that  one 
may  choose  to  name.  Unless  he  is  color-trained  he  cannot  en- 
ter into  a  full  enjoyment  of  the  beautiful,  which  the  Greeks 
regarded  as  equivalent  to  the  world  itself,  using  the  same  word 
to  denote  the  earth  and  the  beautiful. 

We  should  teach  the  child  color  not  only  for  the  sake  of 
beauty  but  also  for  the  sake  of  business.  Pearly  color  educa- 
tion, properly  conducted,  will  detect  any  tendencies  toward 
color  blindness  which  he  may  possess,  may  help  him  in  the 
fortunate  choice  of  a  vocation  and  prove  a  strong  factor  of  his 
success  through  life,  besides  adding  immensely  to  his  avenues 
for  healthful  enjoyment  in  all  the  paths  of  life. 

That  the  harmonious  combinations  and  contrasts  of  different 
colors  constitute  one  of  our  greatest  sources  of  pleasure,  few 
of  us  will  care  to  deny,  and  it  is  equally  evident  that  in  nu- 
merous lines  of  business  an  understanding  of  the  correct  use  of 
color  is  of  great  commercial  service.  But  while  tlie  value  of  a 
trained  color-sense  is  unquestioned,  we  are  confronted  with  the 
sad  reality  that  half  the  people  of  the  present  day  have  no  true 
perceptions  of  the  values  of  colors,  or  of  the  effect  of  colors 
on  each  other  in  combinations. 


U  COLOR   IN  THE   SCHOOL-ROOM. 

Even  a  casual  consideration  of  this  subject  must  convince  us 
that  for  the  majority  of  the  human  race  to  be  ignorant  of  the 
simplest  principles  of  the  harmonies  and  pleasing  contrasts  in 
colors  is  simply  absurd,  and  it  follows  that  a  considerable  per- 
centage of  them  are  regarded  as  color-blind  because  they  are 
color-ignorant. 

It  is  high-time  to  set  aside  the  notion  that  a  knowledge  of 
colors  and  their  combinations  in  the  arts  is  beneath  the  dignity 
of  business  men  and  also  of  women  of  affairs.  The  fact  that 
any  people  who  are  ambitious  to  excel  in  the  industrial  arts, 
to  say  nothing  of  fine  art,  must  in  their  primary  education 
lay  the  foundation  for  a  knowledge  of  the  beautiful  in  form 
and  color  is  too  patent  for  argument,  and  if  there  is  to  be  any 
reform  in  the  community  in  this  direction  it  must  come  through 
the  education  of  children.  Until  within  a  very  few  years  there 
has  been  no  teaching  of  color  in  the  primary  schools,  the  only 
instruction  ever  attempted  being  confined  to  the  closing  mouths 
of  a  high  school  or  college  course  and  limited  to  a  few  general 
observations  in  connection  with  the  study  of  physics.  By  this 
time  the  perceptive  faculties  which  the  pupils  possessed  in 
early  childhood  have  become  measurably  blunted,  unless,  as  in 
rare  cases,  they  have  received  careful  cultivation  along  those 
lines  oi  research  into  the  mysteries  of  nature  which  should  be 
delightful  to  every  child.  Consequently  these  advanced  pupils 
are  not  in  the  best  condition  to  appreciate  and  utilize  what 
little  color  teaching  is  given  them. 

That  color  is  one  of  the  earliest  subjects  which  should  be 
taught  in  any  educational  course  is  evident  from  the  fact  that 
some  bright  color  is  the  first  thing  to  attract  the  infant's  eye, 
winning  his  notice  before  he  pays  any  attention  to  form.  No 
branch  of  primary  education  is  more  lauded  in  these  latter  days 
than  form  study,  which  can  be  made  a  fascination  to  the 
youngest  pupil  and  is  the  basis  of  drawing  in  all  its  varied  de- 
partments, but  color  comes  before  form  and  accompanies  it 
through  all  its  exhibitions  in  art  and  nature.  The  study  of 
color  and  form  should  therefore  go  hand  in  hand,  and  then  we 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  15 

may  hope  to  see  a  rapid  crystalization  of  certain  truths  regard- 
ing color  which  have  been  felt  but  not  clearly  stated  by  the 
great  artists  of  the  past.  This  result  can  only  be  reached 
through  man}'  experiments  and  not  a  few  blunders,  because  of 
the  present  lack  of  instructors  who  are  well  qualified  to  lay 
down  and  successfully  carry  out  a  general  scheme  of  color- 
education.  That  the  few  normal  art  schools  which  are  located 
at  some  of  our  educational  centers  are  doing  excellent  work  and 
making  themselves  widely  felt  in  the  right  direction  through 
their  graduates  is  not  to  be  denied  by  those  conversant  with 
the  facts,  but  as  regards  the  rank  and  file  of  public  school 
teachers  it  must  be  admitted  that  our  successful  teachers  are 
not  experienced  artists  and  the  distinguished  artists  who  might 
be  called  in  to  carry  on  the  work  are  not  skilled  in  educational 
processes.  The  two  classes  must  come  together,  so  that  those 
things  in  art  and  nature  which  are  now  mysteries  to  the  masses 
can  be  made  as  simple  as  those  other  things  in  science  which 
were  but  lately  wrapped  in  obscurity,  so  far  as  the  multitude 
were  concerned.  If  new  truths  are  being  daily  discovered 
in  science  by  men  who  have  not  hitherto  been  regarded  as 
learned,  is  it  impossible  that  we  may  yet  see  Xewtons  and 
Edisons  in  nrt  who  shall  be  able  to  hand  dowm  to  the  common 
people  the  great  mysteries  of  the  beautiful? 

Granting  that  the  subject  of  color  has  an  aesthetic  and  prac- 
tical value  and  should  be  taught  in  our  public  schools,  a  multi- 
tude of  queries  as  to  time,  ways,  means  and  aims  will  force 
themselves  on  the  teacher  who  is  about  to  enter  this  untried 
field  of  instruction.  Some  of  these  questions  it  will  be  possi- 
ble to  answer  in  advance.  The  uncertainty  which  clings  to 
others  can  only  be  dispelled,  if  at  all,  in  the  school  of  experi- 
ence. In  the  color-education  of  the  past,  two  things,  which 
although  intimately  related  in  practice  are  absolutely  distinct, 
have  been  sadly,  confused.  The  training  of  the  eye  to  match 
and  analyze  colors  and  to  make  good  combinations  and  detect 
l)ad  ones,  is  wholly  separate  from  the  ability  to  produce  the  va- 
.rious.  colors  with  pigments.      The   first  process  is  adapted  to 


16  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

the  comprehension  of  the  youngest  children  and  may  be  carried 
on  in  a  large  school  and  at  a  moderate  cost.  But  while  this 
grade  of  work  is  being  done  the  minds  of  both  teacher  and 
pupils  should  be  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  considering  the 
technical  methods  of  mixing  and  applying  pigments.  The  eye 
should  first  be  trained  by  the  familiar  use  of  properly  graded 
colors,  ready  prepared,  and  for  this  purpose  no  material  is  as 
good  or  as  economical  as  a  line  of  colored  papers  which  repre- 
sents correct  standards.  After  the  children  have  been  taught 
to  recognize  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  or  more  well-selected 
colors  and  to  know  them  as  familiar  friends  in  all  their  best 
combinations,  as  well  as  to  avoid  the  many  combinations 
which  are  not  pleasing,  then  the  use  of  pigments  either  in 
water  or  oil,  with  which  to  match  the  colors  already  known  and 
to  produce  hundreds  of  others,  will  add  pleasure  to  the  study 
and  require  much  less  care  on  the  teaclier's  part. 

Those  natural  artists  who  were  born  with  a  knowledire  of 
color  have,  in  spite  of  poverty,  lack  of  fine  colors,  and  good 
imjilements,  done  artistic  work,  while  other  students  of  ''paint- 
ing" who  have  been  provided  with  the  most  expensive  materials 
and  implements  but  without  a  trained  eye  for  color  have  been 
unable  to  produce  even  a  respectable  picture  after  years  of 
effort,  thus  showing  that  the  knowledge  of  color  is  more  import 
ant  than  the  knowledge  of  methods.  Witfi  the  very  best  of 
training  few  pupils  can  become  artists  worthy  of  the  name, 
neither,  on  the  other  hand,  does  color-education  necessarily 
have  for  its  end  the  making  of  artists.  It  does  aim,  however, 
to  train  the  eye  to  recognize,  compare  and  analyze  colors,  and 
also  to  teach  the  names  of  those  colors. 

The  teacher  who  has  persuaded  herself  of  the  necessity  of 
teaching  color  in  the  school-room  will  naturally  wish  to  ])egin 
with  the  little  children.  But,  as  has  already  been  intimated,  if 
she  is  wise,  she  will  not  undertake  to  teach  them  anything  of 
the  science  of  color.  Their  color-sense  does  not  depend  on 
that  science,  neither  will  their  ability  to  combine  color,  after 
they  have  been  properly  instructed.      Nevertheless,  while   it  is 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  17 

imnecessary  for  the  child  to  master  tlie  science  of  color  or  even 
to  know  that  there  is  such  a  thing,  it  is  important  that  the 
teacher  herself  should  be  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  essen- 
tial facts  pertaining  to  the  science,  otherwise  her  teaching  is 
very  liable  to  be  "wide  of  the  mark."  Many  books  have  al- 
ready been  published  on  the  science  of  color  and  the  artistic 
use  of  color.  But  whether  any  or  all  of  them  are  calculated  to 
give  the  unscientific  and  inartistic  primary  teacher  just  the  help 
needed  may  well  be  questioned.  AVhat  she  wants  to  know  is 
iiow  she  can  best  instruct  her  pupils  to  distinguish  the  different 
colors  from  each  other  and  give  them  correct  names,  as  well  as 
to  know  which  of  them  can  be  brought  together  with  good 
effects. 


18  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 


CHAPTER  II. 
COLOR  DEFINITIONS. 

^  N  attempt  will  be  made  in  this  chapter  to  explain  cei'tain 
f^  terms  pertaining  to  the  science  of  color  which  are  liable 
to  occur  at  any  point  in  the  following  pages,  so  that  they  may 
-be  understood  whenever  met,  although  the  reader  must  remem- 
ber that  the  use  of  some  of  these  terms  is  so  varied  by  dif- 
ferent authors  of  recognized  authority,  and  tiiat  a  number  are 
so  vaguely  employed  in  general,  that  the  task  of  evolving  defi- 
nitions which  are  entirely  satisfactory  to  all  who  deal  with 
color  may  be  regarded  at  the  outset  as  nlmost  liopeless.  This 
chapter,  however,  undertakes  to  give  the  most  fi-(  (lucntly  ac- 
cepted use  of  the  commonest  terms,  and  also  to  modestly  sug- 
gest a  more  definite  basis  for  color  terms,  something  which 
should   interest  all  artists,  as  well  as  all  teachers  of  color. 

Puke  Color. — A  pure  color,  otherwise  called  a  saturated 
color,  is  the  most  intense  form  of  that  color  without  the 
admixture  of  white,  as  for  instance,  the  reddest  possible  red 
and  the  bluest  blue,  etc.  The  same  meaning  is  sometimes  in- 
tended by  the  phrase  "  a  full  color."  A  color  is  pure  as  it 
approaches  the  corresponding  color  found  in  the  spectrum,  l)ut 
all  material  colors  contain  a  large  percentage  of  wliite  light. 
We  must,  therefore,  select  the  quality  of  color  by  compari- 
son with  the  spectrum,  and  then  get  the  purest  or  most  intense 
expression  of  that  color  which  is  possible  in  pigments.  For 
example,  we  must  for  the  green  select  a  color  wliicli  wlicn  held 
in  a  strong  light  will  show  the  same  kind  of  green  as  that  part 
of  the  spectrum  which  is  by  general  consent  called  the  greenest 
green,  and  then  we  must  get  the  most  intense  expression  of 
that  green  which  is  possible  with  the    pigments    at  our   com- 


COLOR   IN   THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  ly 

iiuiiul.  The  color  will  then  fall  far  short  of  the  spectrum 
sttiiulard,  because  all  surfaces  reflect  some  white  ligiit,  which 
inevitably  reduces  the  fullness  of  the  color.  For  a  further 
explanation  of  this  retlection  of  light  see  Chapter  IV. 

Purity. — The  word  purity  is  often  used  by  artists  in  a  sense 
entirely  different  from  pure  when  applied  to  a  color.  A  paint- 
ing which  has  no  tendency  to  dullness  or  grayness  in  the  tints 
is  admired  for  its  purity. 

Local  Color. — This  term  is  applied  to  the  natural  color  of 
an  object  when  seen  in  ordinary  daylight  and  at  a  convenient 
distance,  as  a  sheet  of  paper  at  arm's  length,  a  tree  at  twice 
its  height,  etc.  The  true  local  color  of  any  object  is  not  visi- 
ble in  full  sunlight,  being  then  lost  in  light,  nor  in  shade,  for 
then  it  is  more  or  less  absorbed  in  darkness,  or  it  may  be 
altered  by  accidental  influences,  such  as  reflections  from  sur- 
rounding objects  or  other  effect  of  colored  light.  Owing  to 
these  influences  it  follows  that  in  nature  very  little  of  the  local 
color  of  an  object  is  depicted,  neither  should  the  student  be 
anxious  to  show  it  as  he  knows  it  to  be,  but  rather  as  it  ap- 
pears at  the  time  when  he  is  studying  it. 

Accidental  or  Complementary  Colors. — When  the  eye  has 
been  strongly  impressed  with  any  particular  species  of  colored 
light,  and  when  m  this  state  it  looks  at  a  sheet  of  white  paper, 
the  paper  does  not  appear  to  it  white,  or  of  the  color  with 
which  the  eye  was  impressed,  but  tinged  wnth  a  different  color, 
which  is  said  to  be  the  accidental  of  the  first  color>  If  we 
place,  for  example,  a  bright  red  disk  upon  a  sheet  of  white 
paper,  and  fix  the  eye  steadily  upon  a  mark  in  the  center  of 
it,  and  then  turn  the  eye  on  the  white  paper,  we  shall  see 
a  circular  spot  of  bluish-green  light  the  size  of  the  disk, 
but  much  less  intense.  This  color,  which  is  called  the  acci- 
dental color  of  red,  will  gradually  fade  away.  The  bluish- 
green  image  of  the  wafer  is  called  an  ocular  spectrum,  because 
it  is  impressed  on  the  eye  and  may  be  carried  about  with  it  for 
a  short  time.  It  is  also  called  the  opposite  color,  because  if  a 
color  scale  is  formed  by  uniting  the  solar  spectrum  at  the  ends, 


20  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

thus  forming  a  circle,  the  accidental  colors  are  approximately 
opposite  each  other.  The  accidental  colors  are  also  called 
complementary  colors,  because  if  the  two  colors  reduced  to 
equal  intensities  are  combined  they  form  white  light,  thus  being 
complementary  to  each  other.  The  accidental  color  of  black  is 
white.  The  term  harmonic  has  been  applied  to  the  accidental 
or  complementary  color  adopted  from  the  theory  of  music,  and 
it  is  generally  supposed  that  complementary  colors  harmonize 
with  each  other,  although  this  does  not  seem  to  be  true  in  its 
best  sense. 

Broken  Colors  or  Broken  Tints. — These  words  when  prop- 
erly used  apply  to  colors  mixed  with  gray,  i.  e.,  with  both  black 
and  white. 

Brightness  or  Luminosity. — The  brightness  or  luminosity  of 
a  color  is  determined  by  comparing  it  with  neutral  grays.  If, 
for  example,  we  place  on  a  rotating  spindle  a  large  red  disk 
and  in  front  of  it  combined  white  and  bhick  disks  of  a  smaller 
diameter,  and  rotate  them,  the  red  is  not  changed,  ])ut  the 
white  and  black  disks  are  resolved  into  a  gray.  The  white  and 
black  disks  may  be  adjusted  till  the  gray  seems  to  be  of  the 
same  brightness  as  the  red,  i.  e.,  neither  lighter  nor  darker. 
When  this  result  is  secured  the  gray  is  the  measure  of  the  lumi- 
nosity of  the  red,  and  may  be  recorded  by  the  proportions  tliat 
the  white  and  black  sectors  each  bear  to  the  whole  circle. 

Ray  of  Light. — The  finest  supposable  element  of  light- 
impression  in  the  eye. 

Beam  of  Light. — A  number  of  rays. 

Primary  Colors. — In  the  scheme  of  color  based  on  tlie 
mixture  of  red,  yellow  and  blue  to  make  all  others,  these 
three  are  called  the  primary  colors. 

Tertiary  Colors. — The  various  colors  made  by  mixing 
orange,  green  and  purple  pigments  are  classed  as  russet, 
olive  and  citrine,  and  are  called  tertiaries.  Orange  and 
purple,  mixed  in  various  proportions,  form  a  line  of  russets. 
Purple  and  green  form  olives  and  green  and  orange  produce 
citrines. 


COLOR   IN   THE   SCHOOL-ROOM.  21 

Tint. — In  a  dollnite  sense  this  word  seems  to  be  ap})li('(l  hy 
the  best  authorities  to  any  color  mixed  with  white  or  reduced 
by  white  light,  and  in  opposition  to  shade  or  shadow,  whicli  in- 
indcates  the  absence  of  light,  or  in  material  colors  the  mixture 
of  black.  In  nature  the  scale  of  a  color  in  tints  and  shades  is 
seen  on  the  surface  of  a  cylinder  where  the  local  color  occu- 
pies but  a  narrow  stripe  and  runs  into  tints  toward  the  high 
light  and  into  shades  and  shadow  on  the  opposite  side.  In 
some  recognized  authorities  the  term  tints  is  confounded  with 
hues,  but  there  seems  to  be  no  good  reason  for  this  use  of 
it.  Shades  is  often  used  in  a  similar  way,  but  all  such  sig- 
nifications appear  to  add  unnecessary  difficulties  and  to  make 
still  more  indefinite  a  subject  already  attended  with  no  little 
confusion. 

Hue. — It  is  very  difficult  to  express  any  difference  between 
a  hue  and  a  color  where  the  word  is  used  alone,  but  the  term 
"'  hue  of  a  color"  should  be  applied  exclusively  to  the  modifica- 
tions which  a  color  receives  from  the  addition  of  a  quantity  of 
another  color,  usually  a  comparatively  small  quantity.  For 
example,  a  blue  with  a  small  quantity  of  green  added  gives  a 
green  hue  of  blue.  If  so  much  green  is  added  that  the  re- 
sultant color  appears  more  like  green  than  blue  it  becomes  a 
blue  hue  of  green.  There  is  a  point  at  which  it  may  be  diffi- 
cult to  decide  whether  the  combination  is  blue  or  green,  at 
which  stage  it  may  with  some  justice  be  designated  blue  and 
green. 

Tune. — Any  attempt  to  express  the  shades  of  meaning  given 
to  this  word  in  high  art  would  be  useless,  but  it  is  evidently 
derived  from  music  and  has  the  same  general  meaning  as  ap- 
plied either  to  music  or  color.  A  full-toned  picture,  for  ex- 
ample, is  one  in  which  the  full  or  saturated  colors  are  used 
freely,  and  a  deep  or  low-toned  picture  is  one  in  which  the 
colors  are  mixed  with  black,  or  colors  nearly  allied  to  it.  But 
one  writer  on  art,  after  devoting  considerable  space  to  an  expla- 
nation of  the  term,  remarks,  "We  use  this  term  very  freely,  far 
too  freely,  and  thus  render  its  signification  very  vague."    Under 


22  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

these  circumstances  it  would  not  seem  very  desirable  to  intro- 
duce the  word  here,  or  to  attempt  its  definition  if  it  had  no  more 
definite  meaning,  but  there  is  one  use  of  the  word  for  which 
there  seems  to  be  no  recognized  substitute.  If  we  have  a  pure 
or  full  color  graduated  by  a  succession  of  steps  to  a  light  tint 
on  one  side  and  a  deep  shade  on  the  other  we  have  a  scale  of 
that  color,  so  that  each  step  is  called  a  tone  in  that  color  scale 
and  the  full  color  may  be  called  the  key  or  key -tone  in  that  scale. 
Thus  far  there  seems  to  be  this  one  definite  use  for  the  word, 
and  possibly  it  would  be  well  if  the  meaning  of  tone  could  be 
limited  to  this  use  exclusively.  If  we  in  connection  with  this 
definition  of  tone  apply  ''  hues  "  to  indicate  the  variations  in 
the  key-colors  and  designate  each  key-hue  by  its  symbol,  using 
tones  for  the  modification  of  each  key-color  by  the  mixture  of 
white  and  black,  much  seems  to  be  gained  in  definiteness  of 
terms. 

In  this  connection  an  English  writer  of  note  says  :  ''Tints 
contain  differing  amounts  of  white,  shades  contain  differing 
amounts  of  black,  broken  tints  contain  differing  amounts  of 
gray,  all  these  are  tones.  "When  a  series  of  tones  is  said  to 
constitute  a  scale  it  is  formed  by  the  addition  of  equal  incre- 
ments of  the  modifying  element.  Each  hue  admits  of  three 
scales,  the  reduced  scale  made  up  of  tints,  the  darkened  scale 
made  up  of  shades,  the  dulled  scale  made  up  of  broken  tints." 

This  division  of  each  scale  into  two  parts,  one  above  and 
one  below  the  normal  color,  is  not  common,  if  indeed  it  is 
desirable. 

A  Scale  of  Color. — By  these  words  we  mean  the  entire 
range  of  tints  and  shades  between  the  pure  or  saturated  color 
and  white  on  one  side  and  black  on  the  other.  See  definition 
of  tone. 

This  word  scale  is  sometimes  applied  to  the  various  hues  of 
a  standard,  thus  a  scale  of  yellows  means  the  various  hues  from 
green  yellow  to  orange  yellow,  but  this  double  use  of  the  same 
term  tends  to  confusion,  and  as  the  first  use  is  the  more  common 
and  important  it  would  be  well  if  it  could  become  the  only  one. 


COLOR  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  23 

This  term  is  also  employed  to  denote  the  relative  degrees 
that  the  tones  of  a  picture  hold  to  nature  or  to  each  other. 
For  example,  a  picture  may  be  executed  in  a  high  scale 
when  pure  white  is  introduced  and  the  tints  are  graduated 
with  reference  to  that  color  or  descend  rapidly  from  a 
small  portion  of  high  light  to  a  middle  tone,  but  graduat- 
ing  more   slowly   in   the   deeper   tones. 

Cold  Coloks. — The  cold  colors  are  said  to  be  green,  blue 
and  violet. 

Warm  Colors. — These  are  designated  as  red,  orange  and 
yellow. 

The  Solar  Spectrum  — When  a  beam  of  light  is  admitted  into 
a  darkened  room  through  a  very  narrow  slit,  and  transmitted 
through  a  triangular  glass  prism  on  to  a  white  surface  within 
the  room,  it  is  separted  into  an  indefinite  number  of  colors. 
Under  such  circumstances  this  beam  of  light  is  readily  ana- 
lyzed, as  it  forms  a  variegated  band  of  colors,  beginning  at 
one   end   with  a  dark   crimson   hue,  and   gradually  changing 


into  a  bright  scarlet,  which  runs  into  an  orange  and  then 
through  yellow,  green  and  blue  to  violet,  which  color  gradu- 
ally fades  away  into  the  darkness  from  which  the  red  at  the 
other  end  emerged.  This  display  is  termed  the  solar  spec- 
trum, and  constitutes  the  only  known  standard  of  colors. 

If  in  place  of  a  solid   glass  prism  w^e  use  a  triangular  glass 
bottle   tilled  with  bisulphide  of  carbon,   a  longer  spectrum  is 


24  COLOR   IN   THE   SCHOOL-ROOM. 

formed.  The  explanation  of  the  phenomenon  of  the  spectrum 
is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  beam  of  sunlight  is  composed  of 
a  great  number  of  different  kinds  of  ra3^s  which  in  passing- 
through  the  prism  are  refracted  or  bent  from  their  direct  course, 
and  some  are  bent  more  than  others ;  the  red  least  of  all  and 
the  violet  most.  This  refraction  is  illustrated  by  the  cut,  on 
the  preceding  page,  in  which  the  dotted  lines  represents  the 
rays  of  light  passing  through  the  triangular  prism  with  V 
(violet)  at  the  top  and  R,  (red)  at  the  bottom.  If  the  beam 
of  light  can  be  brought  into  the  room  horizontally  it  is  better 
to  use  a  vertical  slit  and  stand  the  prism  on  end,  thus  securing 
a  horizontal  spectrum  instead  of  a  vertical  one. 

Harmony. — Two  colors  are  said  to  be  in  harmony  when  after 
being  placed  in  juxtaposition  the  effect  is  pleasing  to  the  eye. 
Harmony  may  be  divided  into  Harmony  of  Analogy  and  Har- 
mony of  Contrast.  Harmony  of  Analogy  may  exist  between 
two  tones  of  the  same  scale,  or  between  two  hues  in  both  of 
which  some  one  color  predominates.  Pairs  of  complementary 
colors  or  accidental  colors  approximate  harmonious  contrasts, 
but  do  not  always  seem  to  fuHlU  all  the  necessar}^  conditions, 
and  thus  far  no  definite  rules  for  producing  this  effect  in  per- 
fection have  been  elaborated. 

Ruskin  gives  the  following  additional  definitions  : — 

Harmony  of  Contrast. — Two  very  distant  tones  of  same 
scale  of  hues.  Tones  of  different  depths  belonging  to  neigh- 
boring scales  harmonize. 

Harmony  of  Analogy  of  Scale. — Different  tones  of  same 
scale  more  or  less  approximate. 

Harmony  of  Analogy  of  Hi'es. — Tones  of  the  same  or 
nearly  the  same  depth  of  neighboring  scales. 

Harmony  of  a  Dominant  Colored  Light. — Various  colors 
assorted  after  the  law  of  contrasts,  but  one  of  them  predomi- 
nating, as  if  viewed  with  a  colored  light  or  through  a  colored 
glass. 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  25 


CHAPTER  III. 

COLOR  BLINDNESS. 

THIS  phase  of  our  subject  is  considered  here  by  wa}^  of 
emphasizing  the  necessity  of  teaching  color  in  the  public 
schools,  from  a  practical  stand-point.  The  term  color  blindness 
is  so  common  at  the  present  day  that  few  people  are  ignorant  of 
its  general  meaning.  The  fact  that  many  states  employ  officers 
to  visit  the  public  schools  to  determine  by  examination  whether 
the  children  have  a  normal  i)erception  of  the  different  colors 
and  the  systematic  examination  of  applicants  for  positions  of 
locomotive  engineers  and  marine  pilots  make  it  evident  that 
there  is  a  considerable  part  of  the  people  whose  color  vision  is 
defective,  and  that  this  defect  is  a  matter  of  great  moment,  not 
only  to  the  individuals  themselves,  but  also  to  the  public, 
whose  lives  are  liable  to  be  imperiled,  unless  its  existence  is 
discovered.  Moreover,  the  interests  of  the  children  are  at 
stake  in  this  matter,  because  their  lifework  may  turn  out  a 
failure,  owing  to  the  wrong  choice  of  an  occupation  through 
ignorance  of  the  existence  of  color  blindness.  A  curious  thing 
about  this  whole  subject  is  the  necessity  which  exists  of  calling 
in  experts  to  ascertain  whether  a  company  of  children  who  have 
])een  for  a  number  of  years  under  teachers  supposed  to  be 
fully  competent  to  carry  them  through  all  the  essential  educa- 
tional processes  are  color  blind  or  not.  If  color  instruction 
iiad  been  properly  given  there  ought  to  be  no  doubt  in  the 
teacher's  mind  regarding  any  pupil.  Some  adults  are,  doubt- 
less, to  a  certain  extent  color  blind  who  do  not  suspect  the  fact, 
while  others  would  have  their  alleged  color  blindness  cleared 
away  in  a  very  considerable  degree  if  they  should  become  bet- 
ter informed  about  color,  for,  out  of  the  number  of  people  who 


26  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

are  in  no  sense  color  blind  very  few  can  properly  name  or  de- 
scribe colors,  except  in  the  most  general  way.  They  simply 
have  not  been  taught  to  recognize  and  analyze  colors  and  give 
them  correct  names. 

It  has  been  determined  by  a  series  of  recorded  experiments 
extending  through  a  period  of  several  years,  that  about  six  per 
cent  of  the  people  are  so  deficient  in  their  perceptions  of  color 
that  they  must  be  regarded  as  color  blind,  as  this  term  is  used ; 
but  there  are  so  many  varieties  and  degrees  of  this  defect  or  dis- 
ease that  the  general  name  color  blindness  conveys  a  very  indef- 
nite  impression  of  the  real  facts. 

Speaking  in  a  general  way,  color  blindness  is  the  want  of 
connection  between  the  light  reflected  from  any  object  and  the 
consciousness  of  the  person.  Experts  cannot  tell  in  all  cases 
whether  the  difficulty  is  with  the  eye  or  the  brain.  For  prac- 
tical purposes  this  uncertainty  is  not  important  to  the  primary 
teacher,  because  genuine  color  blindness  has  thus  far  been  con- 
sidered incurable,  consequently  the  only  important  fact  for  the 
teacher  to  determine  is  whether  certain  defects  equivalent  to 
either   partial  or  total   color  blindness  exist. 

If  a  pupil  has  no  real  color  blindness,  education  in  color  will 
have  the  same  effect  that  it  does  in  any  other  line.  A  child 
who  is  simply  dull  can  make  the  same  progress  in  color  as  in 
any  other  subject  in  which  he  is  slow  to  learn,  and  because  of 
his  general  mental  incapacity  should  have  special  attention 
paid  him  by  the  teacher.  On  he  other  hand,  if  he  is  really 
color  blind  in  any  degree  and  the  facts  can  be  discerned  by  the 
teacher,  the  pupil  and  his  parents  should  be  informed  of  the 
impediment,  as  the  knowledge  of  it  may  be  of  vital  importance 
in  choosing  his  life  occupation.  If  the  difficulty  is  but  slight 
and  its  nature  and  extent  are  known,  much  may  be  done  to 
compensate  for  the  unfortunate  deficiency,  as  well  as  to  avoid 
unjust  censure  for  inattention,  which  results  from  a  disease  or 
deformity.  We  shall  therefore  attempt,  in  the  briefest  pos- 
sible way,  to  explain  the  commonest  forms  of  this  difficulty 
and  describe  the  best  methods  of  making  the  necessary  tests. 


COLOR   IN   THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  27 

To  u  person  who  is  totally  color  bliiul  nil  colors  appear  as 
differeut  shades  of  neutral  grays.  This  form  is  so  very  rare 
that  it  requires  little  attention  here,  as  it  will  naturally  be  dis- 
covered in  a  child  at  a  very  early  age.  Of  partial  color  blind- 
ness there  are  three  kinds  most  connnon,  red,  green  and  violet 
blindness,  the  latter  being  very  much  less  frequent  than  the 
other  two,  and  the  red  being  apparently  much  more  so  than  the 
green.  In  the  first-named  form  of  partial  color  blindness  the 
perception  of  red  is  very  weak,  or  entirely  wanting  and  the 
person  afflicted  with  it  sees  only  green,  violet  or  blue.  In 
green  color  blindness  the  red  and  violet  are  seen  and  the  green 
appears  to  be  a  gray  or  brown .  In  violet  blindness  the  percep- 
tion of  blue  or  violet  would  be  very  weak,  or  entirely  wanting. 
As  stated  above,  this  form  is  very  rare,  the  general  difficulty 
being  with  red  or  green. 

Sometimes  people  experience  considerable  difficulty  in  re- 
membering the  names  of  the  different  colors,  although  the  dif- 
ference between  the  colors  is  readily  perceived.  In  such  cases 
the  trouble  is  due  entirely  to  the  brain,  and  much  can  undoubt-^ 
edly  be  done  to  advance  the  color  education  of  these  people  by 
patient  drill.  This  condition  of  affairs  does  not  seem  to  be 
really  a  case  of  color  blindness.  Therefore  all  tests  of  color 
perception  should  be  entirely  separated  from  the  names  of  the 
colors,  and  the  only  practical  resort  is  found  in  assorting  a 
large  number  of  different  colors  which  are  of  such  hues  as  to 
be  definitely  classified  and  yet  of  suthcient  variety  to  afford  a 
test.  A  considerable  variety  of  shades  and  tints  of  each  of  a 
large  number  of  hues  should  be  used.  In  the  absence  of  any 
other  material  easily  obtained  and  sufficiently  diversified  in 
colors,  Berlin  worsteds  have  usually  been  recommended,  but 
the  teacher  who  employs  in  her  school  work  a  line  of  colored 
papers  of  suitable  variety  and  selection  need  go  no  farther  for 
the  very  best  medium.  In  fact,  it  will  be  impossible  for  a  child 
who  lacks  a  normal  perception  of  color  to  receive  proper  in- 
struction and  drill  in  color  for  a  year  or  two  without  showing 
his  defficiency.     When  this  is  divulged  to  the  teacher  she  is  in 


28  COLOR   IN   THE   SCHOOL-ROOM. 

duty  bound  to  investigate  the  matter  and  by  long  continued 
tests,  if  necessary,  to  determine  whether  it  is  a  case  of  genuine 
color  blindness  or  not. 

According  to  the  scientific  theory  there  are  three  sets  of  color 
fibres,  or  nerves  in  the  retina  of  the  eye,  one  set  being  most  af- 
fected by  red,  another  by  green  and  the  third  by  violet.  This 
theory  also  assumes  that  when  one  of  these  sets  of  nerves  is 
paralyzed  or  becomes  inactive  the  person  is  made  color  blind  as 
regards  that  particular  color,  consequently  we  have  red  blind- 
ness, green  blindness,  and  violet  blindness.  Therefore  as  the 
entire  paralysis  of  the  three  sets  of  nerves  is  very  uncommon, 
we  rarely  meet  with  a  case  of  complete  color  blindness.  But 
we  do  find  every  grade  of  this  disease,  so  that  it  is  impossible 
to  draw  the  line  at  which  a  person  can  be  said  to  be  color 
blind. 

The  only  way  to  ascertain  the  condition  of  any  one  with  ref- 
erence to  his  color  perception  is  by  having  him  compare  colors 
and  not  by  naming  them.  Formerly  color  charts  were  used 
for  testing  color  blindness  in  children,  the  teacher  showing  the 
colors  to  the  pupils  and  asking  the  names.  But  a  child  soon 
learned,  from  hearing  the  others  recite,  which  spot  was  red, 
which  green,  etc.,  so  that  the  amount  of  information  which  the 
teacher  was  able  to  obtain  proved  quite  restricted  and  the 
natural  desires  of  the  child  to  show  that  he  possessed  as  much 
knowledge  as  his  mates  stimulated  him  to  unintentionally  de- 
ceive the  teacher.  The  better  way  of  detecting  color  blind- 
ness is  !:hrough  selections  made  by  each  pupil.  Let  the  teacher 
pick  out  some  one  color  and,  showing  it  to  the  child,  ask  him 
to  choose  one  or  more  exactly  like  it.  Then  let  him  pick  out 
others  similar  in  color,  the  tints  of  some  color  and  the  shades 
of  some  color,  aftei^ard  assorting  the  different  colors.  If  all 
colors  at  different  times  are  persistently  confounded  with  neu- 
trals or  yellowish  grays  there  must  be  a  degree  of  general 
color  blindness.  If  a  child  is  color  blind  to  red  and  has  a 
normal  perception  of  green  and  violet  he  will  see  in  the  various 
reds   and  oranges  either  various  shades  of  neutral  grays  or 


COLOR   IN  THE   SCHOOL-ROOM.  2!) 

yellow  iiiays.  If  reds  and  greens  are  confounded  there  is 
either  a  red  blindness  or  a  green  blindness,  or  both.  The 
violet  blindness,  if  it  ever  occurs,  which  is  as  yet  a  matter  of 
some  doubt,  would,  of  course,  be  indicated  by  the  confusing 
of  violet  and  blue  with  neutrals  or  with  reds. 

The  number  of  cases  of  color  blindness  which  have  been 
carefully  tested  and  the  results  recorded  and  published  is  so 
small  and  the  conditions  as  reported  are  so  varied  that,  thus 
far  it  seems  impossible  to  establish  any  classification  which  will 
enable  a  non-professional  to  determine  just  the  kind  or  degree 
of  color  blindness  which  exists  in  a  given  case.  There  are  a 
few  things,  however,  which  if  definitely  ascertained  offer  direct 
evidence  that  this  condition  of  the  color  sense  is  abnormal  and 
will  warrant  the  teacher  in  suggesting  that  the  child  be  ex- 
amined regarding  his  color  blindness  by  an  expert. 

It  is  a  prevalent  idea  that  the  number  of  color  blind  women 
is  very  much  less  than  that  of  men,  and  much  time  has  been 
spent  in  debating  this  question,  but  some  doubt  remains  as  to 
whether  this  opinion  does  not  obtain  because  the  girls  are 
brought  so  much  more  intimately  into  relation  with  colored 
materials  in  selecting  their  articles  of  dress  and  in  this  way 
come  to  know  the  names  of  colors  much  better  and  in  fact  en- 
joy a  much  better  color  education  than  the  men.  A  correct 
decision  can  better  be  reached  when  both  the  boys  and  girls 
receive  a  systematic  color  education  and  their  color  sense  is 
more  equally  cultivated.  At  present  this  difference  seems  to 
favor  the  theory  that  a  very  large  part  of  the  apparent  defi- 
ciency in  the  color  sense  of  men  may  be  overcome  by  proper 
train ino;  in  childhood. 


30  COLOR   IN  THE   SCHOOL-ROOM. 


CHAPTER  lY. 

THE  THEORY  OF  LIGHT  AND  COLOR. 

1^  AVING  hinted  at  the  necessity  of  research  regarding  the 

^l  science  of  color  by  those  teachers  who  wish  to  give 
color  instruction  to  children,  we  shall  now  attempt  for  their 
benefit  a  condensed  statement  of  the  theory  of  light,  and  its 
relation  to  color,  because  a  knowledge  of  these  things  is  essen- 
tial to  any  clear  understanding  of  the  science  of  color. 

About  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  ago  Sir  Isaac 
Newton  accidentally  discovered  that  a  triangular  prism  would 
transform  a  sunbeam  into  a  beautiful  band  of  colors  on  a 
white  surface.  This  discovery  led  him  to  analyze  sunlight 
which  is  considered  as  white  ligiit,  and  in  consequence  it  has 
long  been  an  accepted  truth  that  a  beam  of  solar  light  is  com- 
posed of  an  indeterminate  number  of  variously  colored  rays, 
which  are  distributed  into  groups  termed  red  rays,  orange  rays, 
yellow  rays,  green  rays,  blue  rays  and  violet  rays.  This  band 
of  colors,  which  is  obtained  by  throwing  a  beam  of  sunlight 
on  a  white  surface  after  it  has  passed  through  a  triangular 
glass  prism,  is  called  the  solar  spectrum.  Newton  himself 
claimed  that  the  spectrum  was  made  up  of  seven  colors,  plac- 
ing indigo  between  blue  and  violet ;  modern  scientists,  how- 
ever, are  content  to  drop  it  from  the  list  of  standard  colors, 
regarding  it  merely  as  an  intermediate  between  blue  and  violet. 

The  word  light  as  a  scientific  term  is  applied  to  three  things. 
First,  it  is  the  name  given  to  the  yet  unknown  physical  agent 
or  cause  of  the  illumination  and  visibility  of  bodies  in  nature. 
Secondly,  it  indicates  the  condition  of  bodies  while  acted  on 
by  such  a  cause  as  has  just  been  mentioned.  Thirdly,  it  des- 
ignates the  sensation  arising  from  the  reception  of  its  influence 
on  the  sensitive  part  of  the  eye. 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  31 

Our  knowledge  of  light  is  so  limited  that  we  can  only  speak 
of  its  phenomena  and  their  laws.  All  natural  objects  are 
obviously  divisible  into  two  classes  :  Those  which  originally 
give  forth  or  emit  light,  and  those  which  do  not.  The  former 
are  self-luminous,  being  commonly  termed  sources  of  light. 
The  latter  are  commonly  termed  non-luminous.  They  may  be 
said  to  be  illuminated,  but  are,  in  truth,  temporarily  luminous. 

The  lines  of  luminous  action  or  effect  are  what  we  call  rays. 
The  emission  of  light  from  a  luminous  body  occurs  in  all  di- 
rections and  always  in  straight  lines.  A  substance  through 
which  light  is  perfectly  transmitted  is  said  to  be  transparent. 
Bodies  through  which  objects  are  indistinctly  visible  are  semi- 
transparent.  Those  through  which  only  a  glimmer  of  light  is 
seen,  without  the  form  of  objects  being  defined,  are  translu- 
cent, while  those  are  opaque  through  which  no  perceptible  light 
passes.  In  considering  these  terms,  however,  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  no  substance  is  wholly  transparent  and  no  ma- 
terial absolutely  opaque.  Thin  plates  of  polished  glass  are 
commonly  called  transparent  and  ground  glass  and  oiled  paper 
furnish  good  examples  of  translucent  materials.  There  are  no 
absolute  dividing  lines  between  these  classes,  the  terms  which 
are  used  as  a  matter  of  convenience  being  somewhat  indefinite. 

In  analyzing  the  composition  of  sunlight  we  must  investi- 
gate the  effects  of  refraction  and  reflection.  AVhen  sunlight, 
commonly  called  white  light,  passes  through  the  prism  it  is  re- 
fracted, that  is,  bent  from  its  straight  concourse  and  as  each 
class  of  rays  has  a  different  degree  of  refraction  the  several 
colors  are  separated  and  the  variegated  band  of  colors  results. 
The  rainbow  itself  is  formed  by  the  refraction  of  light  passed 
through  drops  of  w^ater  in  the  air,  instead  of  through  the  glass 
prism. 

White  light  is  also  separated  by  reflection  as  well  as  refrac- 
tion. When  rays  of  light  proceeding  from  any  source  strike 
the  surface  of  an  opaque  or  a  partially  opaque  object,  which  is 
neither  black  nor  absolutely  rough,  a  part  of  the  light  is  re- 
turned from  such  surface  by  the  process  which  we  call  reflec- 


32  COLOR   IN  THE   SCHOOL-ROOM. 

tiou.  If  the  surface  of  the  object  is  perfectly  [)()lishe(l,  as  a 
mirror,  all  of  the  light  is  reflecied,  unchanged  in  color,  at  an 
angle  having  a  fixed  relation  to  the  angle  at  wiiich  it  impinged 
the  surface,  that  is,  the  angle  of  incidence  is  equal  to  the  angle 
of  reflection,  and  always  shows  in  that  single  direction  the 
images  of  the  objects  from  which  the  rays  originally  proceeded. 
If  the  surface  is  perfectly  white  and  rough  the  light  is  re- 
turned or  reflected  in  a  wholly  different  way,  as  every  point  of 
the  surface  becomes  a  center  from  which  the  light  radiates  un- 
changed in  color,  in  all  directions.  In  surfaces  which  are 
neither  polished  nor  perfectly  white  and  rough  the  two  kinds 
of  reflection  are  combined,  but  the  different  rays  are  never 
mixed  in  their  effects.  The  rays  reflected  from  a  perfectly- 
polished  surface  have  the  color  of  the  body  from  wiiich  they 
originally  eminated.  Those  from  a  perfectly  rough  surface 
have  only  the  color  of  that  surface.  Those  rays  reflected  from 
the  polished  surface  are  said  to  be  regularly  reflected  and  those 
from  the  rough  surface  irregulai-ly  reflected.  When  a  surface 
receiving  light  is  rough  but  not  white  the  adoption  of  a  new 
term  seems  necessary,  in  order  to  express  the  result  which  we 
call  absorption,  although  it  may  be  doubted  if  this  process  has 
ever  been  as  satisfactorily  explained  as  could  be  desired. 
Thus  aside  from  the  refraction  of  the  prism  absorption  seems 
to  be  another  way  of  separating  the  innumerable  rays  of  dif- 
ferent colors  which  are  contained  in  white  light,  i)rovided  the 
white  light  falls  on  any  other  than  a  white  surface.  For  in- 
stance, when  a  beam  of  white  light  illuminates  the  surface  of 
ai?  unpolished  piece  of  red  cloth  or  paper  only  the  red  rays  of 
light  are  returned  to  the  eye,  all  the  others  being  lost.  For 
convenience  these  last-named  rays  are  said  to  be  absorbed. 
These  rays  are  only  lost  as  regards  vision,  because  their  heat 
and  other  effects  may  be  retained  and  exiiibited.  Why  the  red 
rays  are  returned  we  cannot  tell,  although  the  process  is  in  all 
probability  a  different  one  than  that  of  reflection.  When  a 
colored  surface,  for  example,  a  red  surface,  is  partially  pol- 
ished,   as    a  piece  of  red  glazed  paper,  a  certain  part   of  the 


COLOR   I^  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  33 

white  light  impinging  the  surface  is  regular^  reflected  and  is 
mixed  in  the  eye  with  the  red  rays.  Consequently  the  color 
cannot  be  a  full  red,  but  must  be  a  red  with  more  or  less  of 
white  light,  that  is,  a  tint  of  red.  As  no  material  surface  is 
so  absolutely  rough  as  not  to  reflect  any  white  light  it  is  im- 
possible to  obtain  perfectly  pure  colors  from  pigments. 

Some  writers  assert  that  as  we  have  only  to  deal  with  ma- 
terial colors  in  painting,  we  do  not  care  to  know  what  is  pro- 
duced by  the  combination  of  colored  lights  as  distinct  from  the 
mixture  of  pigments  or,  in  other  words,  a  teacher  need  know 
nothing  of  the  science  of  color  in  order  to  teach  the  aesthetic 
use  of  color.  In  decorative  coloring  this  may  be  true  in  the 
abstract,  as  the  artist  is  free  to  make  his  own  selections,  but  in 
landscape  painting  or  the  imitation  of  nature  the  reverse  is 
nearly  always  true.  Seldom,  if  ever,  does  the  artist  have  oc- 
casion to  imitate  the  local  color  of  any  object.  All  color  is 
modified  by  high  light,  shade  and  shadow  and  by  the  innumer- 
able reflections  of  surrounding  objects.  In  an  interior,  all  ob- 
jects are  modified  by  the  draperies  and  other  furnishings,  and 
in  a  landscape  it  is  no  less  a  fact  that  the  color  of  everything  is 
afifected  by  the  sky,  colored  buildings  and  other  surroundings. 
Speaking  of  certain  experiments  in  the  effect  of  colored  light 
on  colored  surfaces,  Prof.  Rood  says:  "They  are  certainly 
useful  in  teaching  us,  when  studying  from  nature,  fearlessly 
to  follow  even  the  most  evanescent  indications  of  the  eye, 
utterly  regardless  of  the  fact  that  they  disobey  laws  which 
they  have  learned  from  the  pallette."  The  knowledge  of 
complementary  colors  is  also  necessary,  as  it  perceptibly  af- 
fects all  shadows,  distances  against  a  sky  and  kindred  mat- 
ters. Prof.  Barnard,  in  his  book  on  "The  Theory  and  Prac- 
tice of  Landscape  Painting  in  Water  Colors,"  w^rites  as  follows  : 
"Thus  the  colors  of  material  objects  vary  according  to  the  light 
by  which  they  are  view^ed.  A  sand-bank  for  instance,  ob- 
served partly  in  a  bright  light  and  partly  in  shadow,  will 
not  appear  altogether  of  its  true  color,  yellow.  The  part 
under  shadow  will  not  reflect   a    sutlicient    portion    of  yellow^ 


34 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 


rays,  and  the  bright  yellow  of  the  other  part  will  have  a  tend- 
ency to  produce  on  the  eye  the  effect  of  the  accidental  color, 
purple.  Some  artists,  in  depicting  such  an  object  would  at 
once  introduce  the  accidental  color  in  a  pure  state,  and  repre- 
sent the  shadow  by  a  purple  tint,  but  an  accurate  study  of 
nature  does  not  seem  to  warrant  the  total  exclusion  of  the  true 
color  of  the  object  in  favor  of  its  complementary  tint. 

A  little  careful  observation  will  convince  any  one  pos- 
sessed of  good  color  sense  that  we  usually  see  but  a  very 
little  of  the  color  that  is  all  around  us  in  nature.  A  brief  re- 
cital of  an  actual  occurrence  will,  perliaps,  be  a  more  forcil)le 
illustration  than  would  an  imaginary  example.  Two  friends 
were  seated  one  June  afternoon  in  a  room  represented  in  out- 
line in  the  accompanying  diagram.     The  principal  light  in  the 


Ov. 


'K<^'-  *^>- 


room  entered  through  a  window.  A,  opening  on  to  a  lawn  on 
which  were  trees  near  the  house,  so  that  nearly  all  the  light 
entering  the  room  was  reflected  from  the  grass  and  leaves  of 
the  trees.  The  ceiling,  B,  of  the  room  was  a  warm  gray.  In 
a  corner  opposite  the  front  window  was  a  table  C,  with  bric- 
a-l)rac,  among  which  was  placed  at  the  rear  a  framed  engrav- 
ing with  a  wide  white  margin  and  mat.  In  front  of  this  was 
a  small  mirror  and  a  vase.  The  vase  was  tinted  a  greenish 
yellow.  The  friends  sat  at  one  side  of  the  room  at  D,  op- 
posite the  table,  and  in  such  a  position  that  the  mirror  reflected 
a  portion  of  the  ceiling  illuminated  by  the  light  from  the 
window. 


COLOR   IN   THE   SCHOOL-ROOM.  35 

The  gentleman  asked  the  lady,  who  was  an  amateur  artist, 
what  color  she  saw  in  the  ceiling  overhead,  and  the  answer  was 
gray.  He  then  asked  what  she  saw  in  the  mirror  on  the  table 
and  she  unhesitatingly  said  green,  and  in  fact  the  mirror  was 
much  more  green  than  the  vase,  both  of  which  were  seen  in 
contrast  to  tlie  white  margin  of  the  engraving  at  the  rear.  The 
young  lady  knew  that  the  ceiling  was  gray,  but  not  knowing 
what  bit  of  surface  was  reflected  in  the  mirror,  the  white 
background  and  greenish  vase  in  proximity  to  the  mirror  told 
her  that  it  was  unmistakably  green.  Now  this  color  which 
appeared  in  the  mirror  was  the  combination  of  two  colored 
lights  (not  pigments)  viz.,  the  green  light  from  the  grass  and 
foliage  and  the  gray  from  the  ceiling. 

This  illustration  shows  that  the  problem  constantly  presented 
to  the  artist  is  to  imitate  in  pigments  an  effect  presented  to  his 
eye  by  the  combination  of  two  or  more  differently  colored 
lights,  as  in  nature  the  local  colors  are  constantly  modified  by 
reflected  light  from  surrounding  objects  and  by  light  and  shade. 
First  we  must  learn  to  see  the  colors,  and  then  by  experiment 
find  out  what  available  pigments  will  best  interpret  them,  and 
it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  we  know  the  difference  in  effect 
between  the  combination  of  two  colored  lights  and  two  pig- 
ments representing  the  same  colors,  for  in  some  cases  the 
results  are  nearly  identical  and  in  others  very  different.  For 
example,  in  some  fine  water  color  work  beautiful  effects  are 
produced  by  stippling  two  or  more  colors  together  without 
overlapping  the  dots  of  color  to  any  considerable  extent,  and 
with  a  combination  of  fine  dots  of  blue  and  yellow  a  beautiful 
gray  is  produced,  the  two  colors  being  combined  in  the  eye 
when  seen  at  a  distance,  whereas  if  the  pigments  were  mixed 
the  result  would  be  a  green.  Again,  if  we  spread  over  a  blue 
ground  a  yellow  veil  and  view  it  from  a  distance  we  have  a 
gray,  but  an  artist  acquainted  with  the  mixture  of  colors  by 
pigments  only  would  assume  that  such  a  condition  of  things 
should  be  represented  by  green. 

Having  observed  the  effects  of  light  on  the  bodies  surround- 


36  COLOR   IN  THE   SCHOOL-ROOM. 

ing  us,  it  is  natural  that  theories  should  be  invented  to  explain 
those  effects  and  discover  their  causes. 

The  ancients  supposed  that  the  action  of  light  was  instan- 
taneous, but  a  Danish  astronomer  named  Roemer  disproved 
this  idea  in  1676  by  observing  the  eclipses  of  Jupiter's  moons 
and  calculated  the  velocity  of  light  at  about  192,000  miles  per 
second. 

Of  the  various  theories  which  have  been  formulated  to  ex- 
plain the  method  of  propogation  of  light  the  two  known  as 
corpuscular  and  undulatory  have  received  the  most  attention. 
The  former,  probably  originated  by  Pythagoras  and  adopted  l)y 
Newton,  supposes  that  particles  or  tilms  eminate  from  visible 
objects  and  enter  the  eye.  The  theory  now  generally  adopted, 
for  want  of  a  better  and  known  as  the  undulatory,  was  first 
advanced  by  Huyghens,  a  Dutch  philosopher,  in  161»0.  He 
maintained  that  light  is  propogated  by  waves  or  undulations, 
spreading  in  every  direction  from  a  luminous  body,  in  a  sub- 
stance extremely  rare  termed  ether,  which  is  supposed  to  oc- 
cupy all  space  and  all  transparent  bodies.  These  waves  are 
thought  to  be  similar  in  form  and  action  to  the  sound  waves 
in  the  air,  or  the  ripples  produced  on  the  smooth  surface  of  a 
pond  when  a  pebble  is  thrown  into  it.  As  so  many  of  the 
phenomena  of  light  can  be  satisfactorily  explained  b}'  this 
theory  it  has  been  very  generally  adopted  by  the  best  scientists 
of  our  day,  and  is  now  the  only  one  taught  in  schools  and 
colleges. 

The  refrangibility  of  the  variously"  colored  rays  of  light  as 
separated  by  the  prism  are  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  un- 
dulations per  second,  and  consequently  in  inverse  proportion 
to  the  length  of  those  waves.  Young  prepared  a  table  giving 
the  wave  lengths  in  fractions  of  an  inch  and  the  undulations 
per  second  of  the  principal  colors  of  the  spectrum.  It  will 
be  seen  by  this  table  which  follows,  that  the  red  rays  have  the 
longest  waves,  and  hence  the  smaller  number  to  the  second, 
while  the  violet  rays  at  the  other  end  of  the  spectrum  have  the 
smallest  waves  and  the  most  rapid  vibrations  or  undulations  :— 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 


37 


roi.DRs 

WAVE  LEN(iTlIS 

UNDULATIONS   I'EK 

\^  VX^V.'lVO  • 

IN  INCHES. 

SECOND  IN  TRILLIONS. 

Extreme  Red         .        .        .()()()(>2(;() 

458 

Red 

.oo()02r)() 

477 

Orange   . 

.0000240 

506 

Yellow    . 

.0000227 

535 

Green 

.0000211 

577 

Blue 

.0000190 

622 

Indigo    . 

.0000185 

658 

Violet      . 

.0000174 

699 

Extreme  Viol 

et      . 

.0000167 

727 

The  spaces  in  the  spectrum  occupied  by  the  various  colors 
are  very  unequal,  the  colors  in  the  red  end  being  crowded  to- 
gether and  very  much  extended  at  the  violet  end.  The  follow- 
ing are  approximately  the  spaces  occupied  by  each,  the  whole 
spectrum  being  divided  into  1,000  parts  :  Red  175,  orange  50, 
yellow  15,  green  IGO,  blue  250  violet  350. 

As  there  is  no  dividing  line  between  the  colors  any  such  di- 
vision must  be  but  an  approximation,  as  for  example,  the  red 
passes  to  an  orange  red  and  then  through  a  red  orange  to 
orange,  and  no  one  can  say  when  the  red  stops  and  the  orange 
begins. 

Having  formulated  a  theory  of  the  transmission  of  light 
through  space  and  determined  that  the  rays  of  white  light  are 
separable  into  various  colors,  each  color  having  its  own  num- 
ber of  wave  undulations  in  proportion  to  its  refrangibility, 
and  shown  how  various  surfaces  absorb  certain  rays  and  give 
off  others,  thereby  determining  their  color,  it  is  necessaiy  for 
our  eyes  in  some  way  to  become  differently  impressed  with  the 
rays  of  different  colors  or  wave  lengths. 

Referring  to  the  spectrum,  we  notice  that  while  there  are  in 
it  an  unlimited  number  of  hues,  all  of  which  combined  form 
white  light,  it  has  been  proved  that  red,  green  and  violet  may 
be  called  primary  rays,  because  white  light  can  be  made  from 
these  three.  Therefore  it  is  supposed  that  in  the  retina  of  the 
eye  there  are  three  sets  of  nerves  or  senses  which  are  so  affected 
as  to  carry  to  the  brain  the  sensations  of  red,  green  and  violet 


38  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

or  blue.  On  this  theory  is  based  the  explanation  of  the  ac- 
cidental or  complementary  colors  more  fully  treated  in  Chap- 
ter II. 

All  students  of  this  subject  are  aware  that  there  is  nuich 
discussion  as  to  how  many  simple  colors  are  found  in  the  white 
light  and  what  combinations  can  and  cannot  be  made  from  the 
smallest  number.  As  suggested  above,  scientists  claim  that 
red,  green  and  blue  or  violet  are  the  colors  from  which  all 
the  combinations  are  produced  in  nature,  while  it  is  asserted 
by  certain  colorists  and  artists  that  from  red,  yellow  and  blue 
pigments  all  colors  can  be  made,  and  that  consequently  these 
three  are  primar}'^  colors.  But  while  this  question  is  in  dispute 
between  oculists  and  artists,  may  we  not  safely  assert  that  we 
find  in  the  solar  spectrum  the  necessary  natural  standards  for 
at  least  six  colors,  nearly  the  same  six  which  are  already  recog- 
nized as  the  basis  of  pigment  combinations,  but  wliich  have 
been  adopted  from  a  different  stand-point  and  mixed  up  with 
theories  of  primaries  and  secondaries?  It  is  evident  that 
from  these  six  colors  we  can  secure  a  great  variety  of  other 
colors  b}'  combinations  and  with  black  and  white. 

It  may  be  well  at  this  point  to  say  that  we  shall  in  the  fol- 
lowing pages  pay  but  scant  attention  to  the  theory  of  color 
education  which  begins  with  the  primary  colors  and  proceeds 
to  the  secondaries  and  then  to  the  tertiaries.  The  children 
can  just  as  well  be  taught  the  six  colors  without  any  such 
groupings  as  to  be  drilled  in  these  divisions  which  result  in 
mixing  pigments  rather  than  from  color  analysis.  The  first 
plan  is  more  desirable  from  the  fact  that  the  orange,  green 
and  violet  of  the  spectrum  cannot  be  as  correctly  imitated  by 
the  mixture  of  the  red,  yellow  and  blue  pigments,  which  will 
match  the  red,  yellow  and  blue  of  the  spectrum,  as  by  the 
use  of  other  pigments,  either  singly  or  in  combination.  For 
example,  a  red  that  will  make  the  best  orange  with  yellow 
will  not  make  the  best  violet  with  the  blue  of  the  spectrum, 
while  a  blue  which  will  best  combine  with  a  red  to  make  a  violet 
will  not  make  the  green  of  the  spectrum  with  yellow. 


COLOR   IN   THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  M) 


CHAPTEK  y. 

IS  THERE  A  SCIENTIFIC  STANDARD 
OF  COLOR? 

TDOTII  the  scientists  of  our  day  and  those  of  previous 
^  generations  have  devoted  much  time  to  the  study  of  the 
sohir  spectrum  and  in  their  analysis  of  it  have  discovered  many 
wonderful  things  having  a  direct  relation  to  the  artistic  study 
of  color.  Many  other  things  have  been  from  time  to  time 
brought  to  light  which,  while  they  possess  a  direct  value  to  the 
artist,  have  never  been  regarded  by  him  as  of  much  importance. 
Art  has  always  been  taught  by  artists  to  their  special  pupils  as 
a  sort  of  hidden  avocation  to  be  known  only  to  the  favored 
few.  Consequently  any  attempt  to  connect  the  scientific  facts 
relating  to  color  with  the  artistic  use  of  colors  has  been  met  by 
the  artist  with  the  assertion  that  science  has  to  deal  with  im- 
material color  in  the  form  of  rays  of  light,  while  the  colorist 
must  deal  exclusively  with  pigments,  therefore  art  cannot  be 
governed  by  any  set  of  rules  or  bounds.  As  a  result  there  is 
to  this  day  among  artists  and  artisans  no  recognized  standard 
of  colors  and  each  member  of  the  guild  is  allowed  to  do  what 
is  right  in  his  own  eyes.  For  centuries  every  prominent  artist 
and  instructor  in  color  has  taken  upon  himself  the  task  of  de- 
termining what  is  the  proper  and  most  desirable  red,  green, 
etc.,  setting  up  arbitrary  standards  according  to  fornuilas  of 
his  own,  in  the  expectation  that  all  the  lesser  lights  in  the  pro- 
fession will  bow  down  and  do  him  reverence,  without  question. 
Under  such  conditions  it  is  about  as  easy  to  do  creditable  work 
in  teaching  as  it  would  be  to  carry  on  successful  Inisiness 
transactions  in  a  country  where  the  currency  has  no  fixed 
standard  of  value. 


40  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  scientists  have  agreed  ever  since 
the  days  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  that  the  only  scientific  standard 
on  which  all  color-combinations  are  based  is  found  in  the  solar 
spectrum. 

It  is  at  once  apparent  to  the  unprejudiced  mind  that  there 
must  be  some  generally  accepted  standard  of  color  if  we  are 
to  have  any  science  of  color,  and  that  a  natural  standard  is 
much  better  than  one  which  is  merely  arbitrary.  The  general 
principle  can  be  safely  asserted  that  if  any  science  or  art  is  to 
be  taught  systematically  it  must,  to  a  certain  extent,  be  em- 
bodied in  a  sj^stem  of  rules,  otherwise  it  will  never  be  under- 
stood by  people  whose  intellectual  capacity  is  not  above  the 
average. 

In  view  of  these  diverse  doctrines  the  question  naturally 
arises  which  side  is  right,  that  of  the  colorists  or  that  of  the 
scientists  ?  Of  course  it  can  be  urged  in  behalf  of  the  first 
class  that  while  most  subjects  are  considered  from  a  poientific 
stand-point  mankind  have  always  been  in  the  habit  of  regard- 
ing others  purely  on  their  artistic  side,  and  if  anything  is  to 
be  exempt  from  scientific  rules  surely  the  matter  of  color  must 
be  included  in  the  exceptions.  But  after  taking  into  account 
all  the  tendencies  of  the  times,  the  thoughtful  mind  is  forced 
to  entertain  the  query  whether,  after  all,  every  department  of 
our  intellectual  and  aesthetic  as  well  as  of  our  physical  and 
material  life  is  not  dominated  by  science. 

In  support  of  this  idea  allow  us  to  quote  from  Hitter  in  his 
History  of  Music:  "It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  aes- 
thetics of  any  special  art  rest  on  the  theoretical  and  historical 
developement  of  that  art.  Esthetics  are  so  to  speak,  the  sum- 
ming up,  the  quintessence  of  all  artistic  results  gained  by  philo- 
sophical researches  in  the  different  branches  and  forms  of  this 
or  that  particular  art,  or  of  all  the  arts  taken  in  a  collective 
form."  Now  what  has  been  the  "theoretical  and  historic  de- 
velopement" of  the  art  of  music?  Here  is  what  Sir  George 
Grove  has  to  say  on  this  point :  "In  instrumental  music  there 
has  been  a  steady  and  perceptible  growth  of  certain  fuudamen- 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  41 

tal  principles  by  a  process  wonderfully  like  evolution.  There 
can  liardly  be  any  doubt  that  tlio  first  attempts  at  form  in 
music  Avere  essentially  unconscious  and  unpremeditated.  There- 
fore if  any  conformity  be  observed  in  the  forms  of  early  music, 
it  would  seem  to  indicate  a  sort  of  consensus  of  instinct  on  the 
part  of  composers  which  Avill  be  the  true  starting  point  of 
its  posterior  developement.  In  looking  backward  over  the 
history  of  music  it  becomes  certain  that  a  scale  adapted  for 
any  kind  of  elaboration  of  harmony  could  only  be  arrived  at 
by  centuries  of  thought.  In  the  search  after  such  a  scale  ex- 
periment, has  succeeded  experiment,  those  which  were  suc- 
cessful sei-ving  as  a  basis  for  further  experiments  by  fresh  gen- 
erations, till  the  scale  we  now  use  was  arrived  at." 

A  comparison  of  authorities  regarding  the  history  of  music 
indicates  that  for  ages  rote  singing  must  have  been  the  custom, 
but  that  in  the  early  part  of  the  fourth  century  Pope  Sylvester 
started  singing  schools,  the  first  of  which  we  have  any  record 
in  the  Christian  era.  Fillmore  says  that  by  this  time  certain 
musical  formulas  had  become  pretty  well  established  as  appro- 
priate to  the  different  feasts  and  fasts  of  the  church,  and  these 
singing  schools  had  for  their  object  the  preservation  of  the  es- 
tablished chants.  They  had  to  be  taught  by  rote  and  handed 
down  by  tradition,  for  the  musical  notation  of  the  time  was  ex- 
tremely inadequate. 

According  to  Sir  George  A.  Macfarren  :  "Pope  Gregory  in 
the  last  half  of  the  sixth  century  formulated  certain  modes  or 
keys  and  he  made  use  of  a  letter  notation,  but  St.  Isadore,  the 
friend  and  survivor  of  Gregory,  proves  that  no  music  of  the 
time  of  Gregory  could  be  preserved.  He  says,  "unless  sounds 
are  retained  in  the  memory  they  perish  for  they  cannot  be  writ- 
ten." Even  after  the  staff"  was  invented  it  was  two  hundred 
years  more,  about  A.  D.  1200,  before  there  was  any  mode  of 
indicating  the  length  of  tones  except  as  instinct  and  the  accent 
of  the  words  indicated. 

Another  author  in  commenting  on  this  period  of  musical 
history  remarks  :     "In  the  developement  of  music,  art  foreran 


42  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

science  and  its  votaries  continued  the  employment  of  harmonies 
which  as  yet  could  alone  be  justified  by  their  beautiful  effects, 
and  even  musical  theories  did  not  for  ages  to  come,  perceive 
the  important,  the  all  wonderful  bearing  of  the  principles  of 
harmonics  upon  the  subject  they  treated." 

Helmholtz  in  his  Science  of  Acoustics  says  :  "Every  tone 
gives  with  the  principal  strong  sound  an  almost  immeasur- 
able number  of  others  which  are  always  heard  in  a  cer- 
tain order.  These  are  called  harmonics.  The  question  is 
asked  why  then  need  there  be  any  particular  selection  or  limi- 
tation of  the  sounds  used.  Why  is  it  necessary  to  proceed  by 
steps  and  forbidden  to  progress  by  continuous  transitions.  It 
appears  that  all  nations  in  all  times,  who  have  made  music 
have  adopted  such  a  selection,  although  they  have  not  always 
selected  the  same  series  of  sounds."  By  reading  Helmholtz' 
chapter  upon  Scales  and  Temperaments  we  can  trace  the 
gradual  evolution  of  the  scale  as  adopted  by  modern  musicians 
and  their  final  agreement  upon  what  is  called  equal  tempera- 
ment, a  slight  conventionalizing  of  the  tones  of  nature.  This 
may  be  analogous  to  the  conflicting  ideas  regarding  color 
standards. 

By  referring  to  a  treatise  on  harmony  by  Alfred  Day  we  find 
this  extract :  "The  discovery  of  generated  harmonics  had  been 
held  as  belonging  to  science  and  not  pertaining  to  art.  Com- 
posers had  employed  what  may  be  classed  as  natural  in  distinc- 
tion from  arbitrary  combinations,  but  each  only  on  the  prompt- 
ing of  his  genius  with  the  justification  of  their  effect. 

In  another  place  Mr.  Day  says:  "Empirical  rules  drawn 
from  the  tentative  practices  of  great  musicians  were  from  time 
to  time  enunciated,  but  no  theory,  till  that  of  the  generation  of 
harmonics  proved  the  natural  principles  upon  which  unknow- 
ingly masters  have  wrought,  nor  distinguished  between  these 
ingenius  artifices  whereby  in  former  times  musical  etymology 
and  syntax  were  regulated." 

In  a  similar  strain  J.  Clerk  Maxwell  remarks  in  his  Harmonic 
Analysis  :     "It  would  not  be  devoid  of  interest  had  we  oppor- 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  43 

tiinity,  to  trace  the  analogy  between  these  mathematical  and 
mechanical  methods  of  harmonic  analysis  and  the  dynamical 
processes  which  go  on  when  a  ray  of  light  is  analyzed  into  its 
simple  vibrations  by  a  prism,  when  a  particular  overtone  is 
separated  from  a  complex  tone  by  a  resonator  and  when  the 
enormously  complicated  sound  wave  of  an  orchestra  or  even 
the  discordant  clamors  of  a  crowd  are  interpreted  into  intelli- 
gible music  of  language  by  the  attentive  listener  armed  with 
the  harp  of  three  thousand  strings,  the  resonance  of  which  as 
it  hangs  in  the  ear,  discriminates  the  multifold  components  of 
the  aerial  ocean." 

The  necessity  and  paramount  advantage  of  scientific  stand- 
ards as  the  basis  of  all  musical  instruction  and  musical  excel- 
lence is  summed  up  by  Sir  George  Grove  in  this  way :  "It 
may  seem  an  anomaly  that  art  excellence  should  be  tested  by 
academical  regulations  since  by  some  they  are  supposed  to  soar 
above  rule,  but  rise  as  it  may,  to  be  art  it  must  be  founded  on 
principle  and  in  its  working  to-day  it  oversteps  its  limits  of 
yesterday,  it  is  forever  unfolding  new  exemplifications  of  those 
natural  laws  upon  which  it  is  founded  and  the  greatest  artist  is 
he  who  can  most  deeply  prove  and  is  thus  best  able  to  apply 
the  phenomena  upon  these  grounds,  then  it  is  not  beyond  the 
province  of  the  school  men  to  test  and  declare  the  qualifica- 
tions of  the  artist." 

Passing  from  the  realm  of  music  to  that  of  chemistry  it 
would  be  possible  to  trace  an  advance  from  chaotic  beginnings 
to  an  exact  science  which  presents  a  more  emphatic  evolution 
than  the  one  already  noted.  Chemistry  has  its  origin  in  the 
labors  of  the  alchemists  who  flourished  in  Europe  from  A.  D, 
800-1300.  The  Arabians  who  were  the  first  people  to  make 
advances  in  the  study  aimed  to  change  base  metals  into  gold. 
Basil  Valentine  held  about  the  fourteenth  century  that  metals 
were  composed  of  mercury,  sulphur  and  salt,  although  these 
substances  were  not  the  same  as  the  common  bodies  which  now 
bear  their  names.  Lemery  1G45-1715  maintained  that  there 
were  five  chemical  elements,  water  and  earth  being  the  passive 


44  COLOR   IN  THE   SCHOOL-ROOM. 

elements  and  mercury  or  spirit,  sulphur  or  oil  and  salt  the  active 
ones.  Beecher,  1635-1681  and  Stahl,  1660-1734,  undertook  to 
explain  the  change  following  from  combustion. 

Previous  to  the  time  when  the  celebrated  French  chemist 
Lavoisier,  began  his  investigations,  confusion  and  difference 
of  opinion  regarding  the  quantitative  relations  of  chemistry 
reigned  supreme  and  it  was  not  until  he  brought  his  great 
powers  to  bear  upon  the  subject  that  light  was  evoked  from  the 
darkness  and  the  true  and  simple  nature  of  the  phenomena 
was  rendered  evident.  His  experiments  overthrew  the  old 
phlogiston  idea  of  combustion  and  led  to  the  complete  under- 
standing of  oxydation.  In  1<S03  Dalton  published  the  first 
table  of  atomic  weights  and  in  1818  Berzelius  fully  established 
the  fact  that  the  elementary  bodies  combine  in  certain  given 
proportions  b}^  weight  or  in  multiples  of  their  proportions. 

Of  course  as  long  as  confusion  prevailed  concerning  the  ele- 
ments of  chemistry  it  could  have  no  nomenclature  worthy  of 
the  name.  Lavoisier  and  his  colleagues  pursued  a  definite  and 
scientific  scheme  of  chemical  nomenclature  which  has  since 
been  adopted  and  used  with  slight  variations  throughout  the 
scientific  world. 

In  this  nomenclature  the  old  common  names  of  the  elements 
have  in  most  cases  been  retained.  The  names  of  recently  dis- 
covered metals  end  in  ium  as  sodium  and  barium.  Those  of 
the  nonmetallic  elements  end  in  ine  as  chlorine  and  bromine. 
The  names  of  the  other  elements  end  in  on  as  carbon.  Oxyde 
is  applied  to  compounds  as  in  oxygen. 

Turning  for  a  moment  from  chemistry  to  drawing  we  notice 
that  this  latter  pursuit,  which  is  very  closely  allied  to  color, 
was  formerly  regarded  as  a  mysterious  science  known  only  to  a 
limited  class  called  artists  who  could  have  from  the  nature'  of 
the  case,  but  a  limited  number  of  pupils.  Nothing  however 
would  seem  to  more  pointedly  mark  the  advance  of  modern 
public  school  education  than  the  progress  which  the  children  of 
to-day  are  everywhere  making  in  this  popular  branch.  But 
while  the  results  secured  put  to  shame  the  decorative  drawing 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  45 

which  was  so  much  hiudcd  in  the  schools  ten  and  fifteen  years 
ago,  the  reason  is  found  in  the  fact  that  these  results  spring 
from  the  rudimentary  principles  of  science,  whicli  nmst  be 
mastered  early  in  the  course.  The  boy  who  begins  form  study 
under  competent  teachers  on  entering  school  and  supplements 
it  with  a  course  of  paper  cutting  and  folding  followed  by  draw- 
ing is  prepared  to  give  a  much  better  explanation  of  what  he 
is  doing  and  why  he  does  it  than  the  decorative  artist  who 
has  had  no  such  training.  To  a  student  of  such  matters  the 
recent  evolution  in  drawing  is  very  evident. 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  literature  ?  Only  a  few  of  us  can 
be  born  poets  and  according  to  the  ancient  maxim  none  of  us 
can  become  poeta  by  study.  But  with  proper  instruction  all  of 
us  can  learn  the  scientific  construction  of  language,  by  the  use 
of  which  the  most  gifted  poets  can  alone  express  their  ideas. 
There  is,  we  maintain,  a  science  of  literature,  which  underlies 
its  most  brilliant  effusions,  a  science  which  is  most  readily  per- 
ceived when  we  come  to  compare  the  crude  efforts  of  a  Chaucer 
with  the  finished  productions  of  an  Emerson  or  a  Howells. 

Modern  teachers  do  not  regard  that  study  of  language  the 
best,  which  in  the  beginning  committed  to  memory  all  the  sci- 
entific rules  of  language.  They  prefer  to  first  give  the  pupils 
good  samples  of  language  and  after  they  have  become  familiar 
with  correct  results  they  are  taught  the  rules  on  which  these 
results  rest. 

As  in  language  so  in  color,  there  are  certain  scientific  facts 
which  must  be  learned,  just  as  the  rules  of  language  are 
learned.  When  we  give  the  pupils  good  examples  in  color  we 
must  be  careful  that  those  examples  are  based  on  some  science 
by  which  they  can  again  be  produced  at  pleasure,  and  by  which 
standards  they  can  be  tested  so  as  to  ascertain  whether  or  not 
they  are  correct. 

Perhaps  we  cannot  finish  this  chapter  in  any  better  way  than 
to  quote  from  the  preface  to  the  Theory  of  color  by  Von 
Bezold,  published  by  L.  Prang  &  Co.,  Boston,  where  the  author 
says:     ''The  opinion  is   frequently  met  with,    that   the   most 


46  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

glorious  creations  of  the  fine  arts  owe  their  origin  almost  exclu- 
sively to  an  inborn  talent,  which  has  been  developed  by,  long- 
continued  practice ;  while  on  the  other  hand  it  is  believed  that 
scientific  investigations  into  questions  of  art  are  of  but  small 
value  to  true  genius,  and  that,  at  the  very  best,  they  can  only 
help  mediocrity  to  attain  to  achievements  of  questioned  merit. 
Curiously  enough,  history  teaches  us  that  the  most  promi- 
nent artists  did  not  share  this  opinion.  The  great  heroes  of 
art,  those  men  whose  work  betray  a  master's  hand  in  every  line, 
exerted  themselves  most  zealously  to  replace  purely  instinctive 
effort  by  conscious  activity  and  to  inquire  into  the  causes  which 
underlie  all  successful  creative  production.  Although  nothing 
was  more  foreign  to  them  than  the  idea  that  technical  skill  must 
be  looked  upon  as  the  ultimate  aim  of  their  studies,  they  nev- 
ertheless neglected  nothing  which  appeared  to  be  calculated  to 
make  them  thorough  masters  of  their  craft  and  for  the  purpose 
of  reaching  this  aim,  they  were  quite  as  earnest  in  devoting 
themselves  to  scientific  studies,  as  they  were  well  assured  that 
the  perfect  control  of  all  outward  aids  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary if  the  emancipated  intellect  is  to  be  enabled  to  soar  to 
the  highest  realms  of  art  without  being  hindered  by  petty 
limitations." 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  47 


CHAPTEK  VI. 

HOW  TO  UTILIZE  THE  SPECTRUM  AS  A 
STANDARD  OF  COLOR. 

TF  we   admit  that  the  spectrum  is  the  only  source  from 

^  which  we  can  derive  standards  of  color  and  on  which  to 
base  a  scientific  nomenclature  of  colors,  it  becomes  necessary  to 
compare  pigments,  that  is,  material  colored  surfaces,  with  the 
spectrum. 

To  make  any  experiments  with  a  solar  spectrum  we  must 
first  secure  the  spectrum  and  not  only  a  spectrum  but  the 
best  that  is  possible  within  the  reasonable  limits  of  common 
physical  apparatus.  The  long-established  method  among  sci- 
entists of  getting  a  spectrum  has  been  by  the  use  of  a  heli- 
ostat,  that  is  an  instrument  having  such  an  arrangement  of 
mirror  and  clock-work  as  will  throw  a  beam  of  light  horizon- 
tally into  a  darkened  room  and  keep  it  constantly  in  the  same 
place  for  a  considerable  time.  But  this  instrument  is  some- 
what expensive  and  for  ordinary  experiments  in  color  a  solar 
lantern  or  porte  lumiere  serves  a  good  purpose.  Having  a 
solar  lantern  of  the  ordinary  construction,  remove  the  lenses 
and  take  the  beam  of  sunlight  from  the  mirror  directly  through 
a  slit  occupying  the  place  usually  devoted  to  the  lantern-slide. 

In  front  of  this  vertical  slit  place  a  prism  of  glass,  or  what 
is  better,  a  glass  bottle  made  in  the  shape  of  a  prism  con- 
taining bisulphide  of  carbon,  with  its  edges  vertical.  This  will 
project  a  horizontal  spectrum  into  the  room,  which  for  the  best 
results  should  be  made  as  dark  as  possible,  and  by  locating  the 
spectrum  on  a  white  surface  it  can  be  conveniently  studied. 
Having  secured  the  spectrum,  the  task  which  we  have  in  hand  is 
the  comparison  of  a  line  of  colored  papers  to  see  how  they  will 
match    the    colors  of  the  spectrum.     For  example,    having   a 


48  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

number  of  red  papers,  we  must  determine  which  of  them  is  the 
nearest  match  to  the  reddest  red  in  the  spectrum  but  in  doing 
this  we  must  not  expect  that  any  papers  or  other  material  that 
can  be  manufactured  will  equal  the  brilliancy  of  the  spectrum. 
In  the  case  of  the  red,  having  first  decided  by  the  mutual  consent 
of  a  large  number  of  competent  judges  precisely  in  which  part 
of  the  spectrum  the  purest  or  reddest  red  is  located,  we  must 
determine  whether  any  piece  of  red  paper  that  may  enter  into 
the  comparison  is  a  more  orange  red  or  a  more  violet  red  than 
the  spectrum  standard,  or  if  it  is  a  lighter  red  or  a  darker  red. 

We  can  readily  imagine  that  in  making  such  comparisons 
there  must  be  a  decided  lack  of  agreement  at  the  starting-point 
among  those  who  are  called  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  case. 
When  eyes  of  various  degrees  of  education,  eyes  with  no 
education  and  eyes  endowed  with  natural  color-perceptions  are 
together  employed  in  such  a  matter  entire  harmony  of  opinion 
is  hardly  to  be  expected.  Nevertheless,  the  experience  of 
those  who  have  experimented  along  this  line  of  scientific  inves- 
tigation proves  that  with  a  wide  range  in  the  occupations  of  the 
experimenters,  who  included  both  men  and  women,  there  has 
been  a  wonderful  unanimity  of  agreement  regarding  the  spec- 
trum standards,  that  is,  the  precise  location  of  the  most  intense 
reds,  greens,  etc.,  in  the  spectrum,  and  also  regarding  the 
matching  of  colored  papers  with  those  standards. 

Indeed,  this  alleged  difficulty  in  securing  a  verdict  which  shall 
be  practically  unanimous  regarding  standards  and  comparisons 
can  be  set  aside  as  of  little  importance,  because  while  the  first 
standards  which  have  been  selected  may  possibly,  by  mutual 
consent  and  as  the  result  of  greater  experience,  be  modified,  no 
change  materially  affecting  the  general  principles  entering  into 
color  combinations  is  likely  to  be  required, 
.  Knowing  that  it  had  long  been  laid  down  in  the  books  that 
the  solar  spectrum  furnishes  a  perfect  standard  of  the  six 
colors,  certain  students  of  this  color  question  on  its  artistic, 
scientific  and  practical  sides  resolved,  some  months  since,  to 
appeal  to  old  Sol  himself  for  such  a  standard  as  their  fellow 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  49 

students  should  be  willing  to  accept  and  adopt.  The  results  of 
the  experiments  which  they  made  as  a  means  of  investigating 
thi&  problem  have  proved,  on  the  whole,  very  satisfactory  to 
themselves,  and  for  that  reason  it  is  proposed  to  give  a  brief 
account  of  them  here. 

It  has  been  generally  stated  that  if  a  piece  of  colored  paper 
is  held  in  the  spectrum  partially  covering  the  width  of  the  band 
the  correspondence  or  difference  in  color  will  at  once  be  de- 
termined. In  other  words,  that  if  the  paper  is  a  true  match 
the  spectrum  color  will  show  the  same  color  on  the  sample  as 
on  the  white  screen,  and  if  it  is  not  a  true  match  a  difference 
will  be  easily  detected.  The  first  part  of  this  statement  can 
not  be  questioned,  but  to  the  ordinary  eye  the  latter  part  is  not 
true  in  practice,  unless  there  is  a  decided  difference  in  the 
colors. 

The  above  very  simple  test  failing,  we  were  obliged  to  adopt 
some  other  method  of  deciding  when  we  had  secured  a  true 
match  to  the  spectrum.  The  principle  of  the  spectrum  and 
method  of  producing  it  have  been  explained  in  Chapter  II.  In 
order  that  the  teacher  may  understand  the  nature  of  the  experi- 
ments to  be  described  we  will  assume  that  we  have  the  darkened 
room  with  a  porte  lumiere  in  our  window  and  have  our  spec- 
trum thrown  on  a  white  screen,  at  a  convenient  point  in  the 
room.  Xow  if  we  could  see  the  color  of  our  paper  sample 
in  the  dark  room  the  problem  of  how  to  make  the  compari- 
son would  be  very  simple,  but  this  is,  of  course,  impossi- 
ble without  some  special  apparatus.  To  secure  this  desired  re- 
sult we  placed  a  second  porte  lumiere  in  another  window  and 
with  it  projected  another  beam  of  light  across  the  room.  At  a 
convenient  point  this  beam  was  intercepted  by  a  hand-mirror 
and  reflected  on  the  screen,  just  beneath  the  spectrum.  Now 
holding  our  sample  of  paper  in  the  light  of  this  second  beam 
we  find  that  it  is  illuminated  with  the  same  brilliancy  as  the 
spectrum,  both  being  reflected  sunlight,  so  that  a  comparison 
can  be  readily  made.  As  a  color  can  be  judged  more  correctly 
when    seen    alone,    separated    from    other   colors,    we    made  a 


50  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

secondary  screen  of  card-board  and  cut  in  it  a  hole  or  slot  as 
long  as  the  breadth  of  the  spectrum-band  and  about  half  an 
inch  wide.  With  this  screen  placed  in  front  of  the  first  screen 
the  entire  spectrum  may  be  shut  off,  except  any  small  section 
which  is  allowed  to  pass  through  the  slot  on  to  the  rear  screen, 
where  it  can  be  examined  isolated  from  the  other  colors  of  the 
spectrum.  If  we  place  another  screen  of  card-board  having 
a  small  hole  in  it  in  front  of  the  hand-mirror  and  throw  the 
beam  of  lio-ht  throusih  the  hole  a  much  better  illumination  of 
the  sample  will  be  obtained  than  is  otherwise  possible. 

To  any  one  who  has  seen  a  perfect  spectrum  under  favorable 
conditions  it  is  useless  to  say  that  the  disappointment  ex- 
perienced in  the  comparison  must  at  first  be  very  decided.  But 
after  a  little  practice  one  becomes  accustomed  to  the  difference 
in  brilliancy  and  is  able  to  judge  which  of  all  the  samples  tried 
is  the  closest  imitation  of  the  spectrum,  for  pigments  are  at  best 
only  imitations  of  the  spectrum  colors.  We  are  able  to  compre- 
hend this  fact  while  examining  the  most  celebrated  paintings 
where  the  artist  has  attempted  to  represent  a  winter  or  spring 
sunset-sky,  in  which  the  green,  the  orange,  the  yellow  and  the 
blue  are  blended  in  such  softness  and  yet  such  purity  and  bril- 
liancy as  to  always  entrance  the  intelligent  lover  of  color  in 
nature ;  but  where  the  efforts  of  the  best  artists  are  exceedingly 
tame  in  coloring  when  they  are  compared  with  nature. 

In  our  first  experiments  the  water  and  oil  colors  were  carried  to 
a  room  adjoining  the  dark  room  together  with  a  great  variety  of 
colored  papers  and  other  materials,  with  the  intention  of  making 
colors  on  the  spot  to  match  the  spectrum.  But  it  was  early 
discovered  that  in  every  color  closer  matches  were  found  in  the 
colored  papers  than  could  be  made  with  either  the  water  or  oil 
colors.  Although  this  result  was  a  surprise  at  the  time,  it  ap- 
peared to  be  a  natural  consequence  on  further  reflection,  because 
water  colors  are  less  modified  by  the  medium  with  which  they  are 
mixed  than  are  colors  prepared  in  oil,  and  the  papers  are  coated 
with  the  purest  form  of  water  colors,  with  the  least  possible 
mixture  of  gum  necessary  to  hold  them  to  the  surface. 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  51 

lu  making  our  experiments  to  determine  the  six  standard 
colors  of  the  spectrum  we  have  adopted  the  method  described 
above  because  it  involves  the  simplest  possible  apparatus  which 
is  available  in  any  high  school,  to  say  the  least,  and  which  we 
hope  before  long  will  be  found  in  every  grammar  school.  The 
use  of  this  apparatus  allows  a  considerable  number  of  people 
to  assist  in  making  the  comparisons  desired  and  is  especially 
recommended  because  the  average  opinion  of  several  per- 
sons secured  from  a  variety  of  tests  is  of  more  value  than 
the  verdict  of  a  smaller  number  resulting  from  investigations 
made  singly  and  at  different  times,  as  is  required  in  the  use  of 
the  spectroscope.  But  with  all  the  diversities  of  eyes  and  the 
great  difficulties  attending  the  production  of  desired  hues  for 
commercial  uses,  it  is  not  even  suggested  that  the  exact  or  best 
possible  matches  of  the  six  standard  colors  desired  for  a  start- 
ing point  have  been  found.  All  these  things  must  be  changed 
and  modified  by  time,  experience  and  increased  interest  in  the 
subject.  When  a  set  of  material  standards  shall  have  been 
definitely  established  by  common  consent  it  will  be  a  very 
simple  matter  to  locate  them  in  the  spectrum  by  reference  to 
the  well-known  fixed  lines  of  the  solar  light  and  thus  establish 
absolutely  for  all  time  these  standards  for  use  in  work  which 
pertains  to  color  and  in  whatever  shall  be  written  about  color. 


52  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  USE  OF  THE  ROTATING  DISKS. 

T^AVING    secured    from   the    spectrum   our    six    standard 

^l  colors  by  the  combination  of  which  the  other  hues  of 
the  spectrum  may  be  closely  imitated  and  from  which  with 
black  and  white  a  very  large  number  of  other  colors  can  be 
made  by  combinations,  we  must  look  for  some  comparatively 
simple  method  by  which  we  may  form  those  combinations  and 
be  able  to  measure  the  proportions  used  of  each  color,  which 
it  is  impossible  to  do  with  pigments. 

The  spectrum  colors  may  be  reunited  by  means  of  lenses 
and  mirrors  and  the  required  combinations  accurately  secured. 
These  experiments,  however,  must  be  performed  in  a  dark 
room  and  with  considerable  care,  and,  fortunately  for  primary 
education,  we  have  in  a  device  generally  known  as  the  Max- 
well rotating  disks  a  much  simpler  and  more  practical  expe- 
dient than  the  use  of  the  lenses.  It  is  based  on  the  persis- 
tence of  vision  as  familiarly  seen  in  the  rapid  revolving  of 
the  lighted  end  of  a  stick  forming  a  complete  circle  of  light, 
or  as  differently  shown  in  the  well-known  toy  and  philosophi- 
cal instrument  called  the  Zoetrope. 

If  the  surface  of  a  circle  of  white  card-board  is  divided  into 
sections  by  radial  lines  and  every  alternate  section  so  formed 
is  painted  black,  the  surface  of  this  disk  when  it  is  rapidly 
rotated  will  assume  a  uniform  neutral-gray  color,  showing  that  the 
black  and  the  white  sectors  are  blended  in  the  eye  by  their  rapid 
successive  presentation.  If  red  is  substituted  for  white  in  the 
sectors,  the  combination  becomes  a  dark  shade  of  red  or  a  dark 
brown,  according  to  the  relative  proportions  of  black  and  red. 

The  fact  that  these  results  could  be  secured  has  long  been 


COLOR   IN  THE   SCHOOL-ROOM. 


58 


known  and  the  device  of  the  rotating  disks  used  as  a  curious 
experiment,  but  its  practical  utility  has  in  recent  years  been 
greatly  enhanced  by  a  very  simple  ini[)rovement  made  by  J. 
Clerk  Maxwell.  lie  merely  cut  a  slit  from  the  circumference 
to  the  center  of  the  disk,  and  thus  was  able  to  combine  on  one 
spindle  of  rotation  two  or  more  disks  of  different  colors  in  any 
desired  proportion.  As  these  experiments  with  the  rotating 
disks  are  interesting  and  valuable  to  children  the  various  com- 
binations that  can  ])e  made  with 
them  are  full}'  explained  in  the 
following  paragraphs,  so  that  with 
the  rotating  spindle  any  teacher 
can  readily  perform  the  experi- 
ments before  a  class.  In  Fig;.  1 
disks  so  combined  are  represented 
attached  to  a  revolving  spindle, 
such  as  is  already  in  general  use 
in  school  laboratories  and  should 
be  included  in  the  outfit  of  every 
school-building. 

It  has  been  determined  that  in 
order  to  secure  a  perfect  combi- 
nation of  colors  with  rotating 
disks  there  must  be  a  speed  of 
at  least  fifty  revolutions  to  the 
second.  With  slower  speed  there  will  be  a  dazzling  effect, 
very  unpleasant  to  the  eyes,  and  no  well-defined  color.  A 
little  mathematics  will  determine  the  speed  possible  with  any 
apparatus,  and  unless  at  least  the  above  speed  is  secured  no 
satisfactory  results  can  be  obtained  in  color  work. 

Fig.  2  represents  in  perspective  two  disks  partially  put  to- 
gether, showing  clearly  the  method  of  uniting  them. 

Fig.  3  is  a  face  view  of  the  disks,  with  their  centers  coin- 
ciding, ready  to  be  placed  on  the  rotating  spindle.  Suppose 
these  two  disks  to  be  green  and  yellow  respectively,  then  by 
rotation  the  larger  surface  of  yellow  is   modified  by  combining 


fe 


-^'"' 


Fig.  1. 


54 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 


Fig.  2.  Fig.  3. 

with  it  the  smaller  quantity  of  green,  forming  a  green-yellow, 
or  a  greenish  yellow.  The  standard  green  and  the  standard 
yellow  being  fixed  and  accepted,  this  same  combination  will 
always  produce  the  same  hue,  and  if  we  can  record  the  exact 
amount  of  green  and  yellow  it  can  at  any  future  time  be 
reproduced. 

In  Fig.  4  is  shown  the  same  disks  adjusted  in  the  same  pro- 
portions and  with  them  a  third  disk  not  slitted  and  a  tritle 
larger.  The  outer  edge  of  this  third  disk  is  divided  into 
100  equal  parts,  so  that  the  exact  proportions  used  for  any 
given  color  can  be  determined  at  a  glance,  as  in  this  case  22 
green  and  78  yellow.  If  a  tint  of  any  standard  color  is 
required  a  disk  of  that  color  is  combined  with  a  white  disk,  or 
if  a  shade  is  wanted  a  black  disk  is  used  with  the  color,  and 
with  these  three  all  shades  and  tints  can  be  produced. 

By  the  various  combinations  of  the  six  disks,  red,  orange, 
yellow,  green,  blue,  and  violet  with  each  other  in  twos,  all  the 
hues  of  the  spectrum  may  be  closely  imitated,  and  in  addition 
a  line  of  red  violets  and  violet  reds  between  the  violet  and  the 
red,  thus  uniting  the  two  ends  of  the  spectrum. 

Thus  far  we  have  considered  the  combination  of  the  disks  in 
pairs  merely.  But  three  or  more  disks  may  be  joined,  as 
shown  in  perspective  in  Fig.  5. 

A  simple  application  of  the  trio  of  disks  is  seen  in  the  pro- 
duction of  shades  and  tints  of  hues  intermediate  between  the 


COLOR  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 


55 


Fig.  4.  Fig.  5. 

standards,  as  for  illustration,  if  we  wish  to  obtain  a  shade  of 
the  green-yellow  already  mentioned  we  add  a  black  disk  to  the 
green  and  yellow  disks.  Fig.  6  shows  two  colored  disks  with  a 
small  graduated  scale,  which  is  sometimes  more  convenient  to 
use  than  the  large  one  when  absolute  accuracy  is  not  required. 


Fig.  6.  Fig.  7. 

In  forming  combinations  of  two  colors  it  is  often  desirable 
to  have  a  constant  comparison  of  the  new  color  w^ith  one  of 
the  standards,  and  Fig.  7  shows  two  color  disks,  as,  for  ex- 
ample, the  green  and  the  yellow  with  the  large  graduated  scale, 
as  in  Fig.  4,  and  in  addition  a  large  yellow  disk.  In  rotation 
the  result  will  be  a  ring  of  yellow  surrounding  a  disk  of  green 
yellow  and  separated  from  it  by  the  graduated  scale. 

Fig.  8  shows  the  same  thing,  with  the  addition  of  a  small 
disk  of  green  at  the  center,  thus  placing  the  new  hue  between 
the  two  colors  of  which  it  is  composed. 


56 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 


Fig.  8  Fig.  9. 

Fig.  9  represents  the  production  of  a  tint  of  a  color  with  a 
ring  of  the  color  outside  and  the  small  graduated  disk  used  as  a 
white  disk  at  the  center,  thus  securing  a  comparison  of  the  tint 
with  both  the  colored  and  the  white  disk.  For  example,  to  get 
a  tint  of  3^ellow  use  yellow  and  white  disks,  with  the  large 
j^ellow  disk  at  the  back  and  the  small  graduated  white  disk  at 
the  center,  thus  giving  a  tint  of  yellow  between  full  yellow  on 
the  outside  and  white  at  the  center. 

Fig.  10  is  given  more  as  an  illus- 
tration of  the  curious  possibilities 
of  the  disks  than  because  it  is  nec- 
essary in  explanation  of  any  new 
principle.  Beginning  at  the  cen- 
ter we  have  the  white  graduated 
scale,  which  gives  us  a  white  cen- 
ter. Next  we  have  a  white  and  a 
black  disk,  the  proportional  com- 
bination of  which  is  determined 
by  the  small  scale.     Back  of  these  Fig.  10. 

are  three  disks  combined,  as,  for  example,  red,  yellow  and 
blue,  or,  of  course,  any  other  three  colors ;  then  the  large 
scale  and  back  of  all  a  large  white  disk.  We  use  this  combi- 
nation to  determine  the  tone  of  a  color  as  established  by  the 
gray  made  from  the  black  and  white.  Having  set  any  two  or 
three  disks  so  as  to  produce  a  desired  hue,  with  the  white  and 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  57 

black  set  at  random,  tlife  whole  is  rotated,  and  thus  the  hue 
produced  is  compared  with  the  ^ray  made  by  the  black  and 
white.  If  the  hue  seems  darker  than  the  gray  the  black  and 
white  disks  are  adjusted  till  the  gray  and  the  hue  of  the  com- 
bined disks  seem  to  be  of  the  same  tone.  The  tone  of  that 
hue  is  then  established  and  may  be  recorded  mathematically, 
to  be  referred  to  at  any  time  and  reproduced  at  will. 

A  careful  study  of  these  representative  combinations  of  disks 
can  hardly  fail  to  convey  the  whole  idea  of  the  Maxwell  disks 
and  to  suggest  numerous  possibilities  respecting  combinations. 
The  Maxwell  disks  and  many  other  simple  devices  for  experi- 
ments in  color  are  fully  explained  by  Prof.  Rood  in  his  book 
elsewhere  noticed. 

In  consequence  of  the  old  theory  of  color  based  on  the  three 
primaries  and  their  comlpinations  to  produce  orange,  green  and 
purple,  the  orange,  green  and  violet  of  the  spectrum  are  con- 
stantly referred  to  as  secondaries,  and  hence  the  combinations 
of  these  in  pairs  are  called  tertiaries.  While  it  is  not  well  to 
perpetuate  in  the  minds  of  the  children  these  names,  it  may 
possibl}^  be  convenient  to  use  them  occasionally  to  designate 
the  groups  of  colors  which  they  represent,  until  a  better  no- 
menclature has  been  adopted  and  familiarized.  The  terms 
olive,  citrine  and  russet,  for  instance,  are  exceediugl}^  indefi- 
nite, as  each  covers  such  a  wide  range  of  hues,  and  they  are 
dependant  to  such  a  degree  on  the  chemical  nature  of  the  pig- 
ments combined  to  make  them. 

The  various  combinations  of  purple  and  green  have  been 
called  olives.  The  term  russet  indicates  the  combination  of  the 
purple  and  orange  in  varied  proportions,  and  citrine  is  the 
name  applied  to  the  varied  hues  composed  of  green  and  orange 
when  produced  by  the  union  of  various  pigments.  With  the 
orange,  green  and  violet  disks  a  beautiful  series  of  hues  is  pro- 
duced, which  can  be  definitely  named  and  recorded,  although 
not  exactly  like  all  the  hues  that  can  be  made  from  the  combi- 
nations of  the  various  pigments  classed  as  orange,  green  and 
purple.     With  the  standard  blue  and  red  a  line  of  purples  can 


58  COLOR  IN  THE  SCHOOL-HOOM. 

be  made  and  one  of  them  may  be  used  for.  a  purple  disk  for 
forming  combinations  with  the  orange  and  the  green,  to  ap- 
proximate the  olives  and  russets  of  the  pigment  colors. 

In  using  the  disks  it  will  be  noted  at  the  outset  that  the 
effects  of  combining  colors  b}'  this  means  are  somewhat  dif- 
ferent from  those  which  are  produced  by  the  combination  of 
pigments.  The  most  apparent  illustration  of  this  fact  is  seen 
in  the  combination  of  the  blue  and  yellow,  which  in  pigments 
gives  green,  but  with  the  disks  or  the  mixture  of  light  gives 
gray.  It  is  also  seen  in  the  use  of  the  white  disk  to  produce 
tints.  Here  the  effects  appear  very  much  as  they  would  if  the 
disk  contained  a  little  red,  and  the  phenomenon  has  been  ex- 
plained by  the   supposition  that  sunlight  is  slightly  reddish. 

Notwithstanding  this  difference  between  the  mixture  of  light 
and  pigments  the  combinations  with  the  disks  offer  us  the 
great  advantage  over  the  other  method,  inasmuch  as  by  them 
we  may  determine  the  exact  proportions  of  each  color  entering 
into  any  combination,  and  thus  are  able  to  make  a  record  from 
which  we  may  reproduce  those  proportions  at  pleasure. 

If  we  borrow  our  standards  from  the  sun  and  with  them 
make  combinations  we  have  results  which  are  the  same  in 
Africa  as  in  America,  and  will  be  the  same  a  hundred  years 
hence  as  they  are  to-day. 

It  is  on  a  series  of  facts  like  these  we  base  our  scheme  of 
primary  color  education.  Having  established  standards  for  the 
six  colors,  red,  orange,  yellow,  green,  blue  and  violet,  selected 
from  the  spectrum,  and  having  made  rotating  disks  corre- 
sponding to  those  standards,  our  next  step  has  been  to  manu- 
facture a  limited  and  well-arranged  line  of  colored  papers 
based  on  these  standards,  to  be  used  for  educational  purposes 
in  connection  with  the  rotating  disks.  We  also  propose  to 
give  to  these  disks  and  papers  definite  names  based  on  the 
proportion  in  which  the  original  colors  are  combined. 

Whenever  the  disks  are  in  use  before  a  class,  no  matter  how 
large,  there  need  be  no  fear  of  want  of  attention  on  the  part 
of  any  pupil.     But  it  is  always  necessary  to  place  the  rotating 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  59 

machine  where  the  best  possible  light  will  fall  on  the  face  of 
the  disks  and  facing  the  pupils,  which  in  the  ordinary  school- 
room will  be  on  the  teacher's  table. 

It  is  very  desirable  tliat  the  light  should  be  directly  from  the 
sky  and  not  reflected  from  a  red  brick  wall  of  adjoining  build- 
ings or  from  green  foliage,  as  all  such  surroundings  always 
seriously  affect  any  class-study  of  color  far  more  than  is  usu- 
ally realized. 

Doubtless  the  artist  and  the  colorist  will  object  that  the  pro- 
portions shown  by  the  wheel  bear  no  relation  to  the  propor- 
tions in  which  pigments  must  be  mixed  to  produce  the  same 
results,  and  that  similar  pigments  do  not  give  the  same  colors 
in  whatever  proportions  they  may  be  mixed.  While  it  is  im- 
possible to  deny  these  statements,  we  do  not  admit  that  the 
objections  raised  are  pertinent  to  the  argument,  but  maintain 
that  it  is  proper  to  entirely  divorce  for  the  time  the  teaching  of 
color  with  a  definite  nomenclature  of  colors  from  the  making 
of  the  colors  with  pigments  or  the  naming  of  them  from  the 
pigments. 

We  anticipate  that  the  artist  may  not  be  willing  to  accept 
the  new  departure  proposed  in  these  pages,  for  fear  that  he  will 
find  it  impossible  to  make  all  the  colors  in  nature  or  in  art 
from  the  six  spectrum  standards  by  the  use  of  the  wheel,  but 
no  new  system  is  ever  perfect  in  the  beginning,  and  all  that  the 
authors  of  this  scheme  ask  is  a  fair  trial  and  honest  investiga- 
tion. Suggestions  as  to  improvements  on  the  system  or  cor- 
rections of  errors  must  be  welcomed  and  honestly  considered 
by  all  who  are  sincerely  studying  this  color  question.  We  be- 
lieve that  a  little  practice  will  demonstrate  that  for  educational 
purposes  the  line  of  papers  produced  by  this  scheme  is  ample 
for  all  primary  work,  and  that  any  one,  either  an  adult  or  child, 
having  this  set  of  standards  and  their  nomenclature  well  in  the 
eye  and  mind,  will  be  better  equipped  to  go  further  in  art 
education  than  has  been  possible  by  any  system  of  color  educa- 
tion ever  before  advanced,  if  forsooth  it  can  be  claimed  that 
there  has  ever  been  a  system  worthy  of  the  name. 


60  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 


CHAPTER  YTTI. 

THE  DEMAND  FOR  A  DEFINITE  COLOR 
NOMENCLATURE. 

^  LTHOUGH  frequent  reference  has  already    been    made 

f^  to  this  matter  its  importance  demands  a  separate  chap- 
ter. If  the  desirable  and  necessary  combinations  of  the  wheel 
become  established  this  whole  color  scheme  must  have  a  no- 
menclature fitted  to  it,  something  that  shall  come  to  be  as  well 
understood  and  generally  accepted  as  the  equivalents  of  chem- 
istry. 

The  lack  of  a  fixed  and  scientific  standard  of  color  among 
artists  causes  many  misstatements  by  the  best  writers.  A 
prominent  English  author  says :  "Although  the  science  of 
optics  of  late  years  has  made  great  advances,  it  is  not  yet  pos- 
sible to  deduce  from  it  any  certain  rules  to  determine  ths 
relative  proportions  which  colors  in  juxtaposition  must  bear  to 
each  other,  in  order  to  produce  perfect  harmony.  A  knowl- 
edge of  the  proportions  can  only  be  acquired  by  the  cultivation 
of  the  artist's  taste,  and  probably  varies  with  the  peculiar 
qualit}^  of  the  perceptive  faculties  of  each  individual."  This 
statement  is  true  only  because  there  have  been  no  standards  to 
which  writers  and  investigators  could  definitely  refer.  Rules 
are  deduced  by  a  multiplication  and  analysis  of  recorded  facts. 
No  facts  of  color  have  been  capable  of  record,  because  there 
has  been  no  accepted  standard  colors  and  no  nomenclature 
based  on  standards  by  which  it  could  be  stated  that  such  and 
such  colors  harmonize  with  each  other. 

The  same  author  subsequently  remarks  :  "vSome  difficulty  in 
naming  colors  may  arise,  not  from  any  imperfection  in  the 
visual  organs,  but  from  the  want  of  a  clear  and  distinct  nomen- 
clature ;  thus  we  often  allow  ourselves  to  designate  as  yellow 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  61 

those  colors  which  are  mixtures  of  yellow  and  red  or  of  yellow 
and  blue  in  different  proportions.  With  the  view,  then,  of 
avoiding  confusion,  as  well  as  unnecessarily  taxing  the  memory 
of  the  student,  we  must  be  careful  to  render  the  names  of  the 
colors  and  their  compounds  as  simple  and  accurate  as  possible." 
.  Again  this  writer  adds:  "In  explaining  the  terms  used  by 
artists  great  difficulties  present  themselves,  which  arise  not  so 
much  from  deliciency  of  information  as  from  the  remarkable 
irregularity  and  indefinite  character  of  those  various  terms  as 
they  are  employed  both  by  artists  and  amateurs." 

M.  Chevreul,  in  his  very  valuable  work,  "The  Laws  of  the 
Contrasts  of  Color,"  indicates  the  want  he  felt  for  some  definite 
nomenclature  of  color  by  an  attempt  to  formulate  one  by  des- 
ignating six  reds  by  numbers,  etc.,  as  follows  : — 

a  Ked  c  Orange 

1  Red  1  Orange 

2  Red  2  Orange 

3  Red  3  Orange 

4  Red  4  Orange 

5  Red  5  Orange 
h  Red-orange  d  Orange-yellow 

1  Red-orange  1     Orauge-^^ellow 

2  Red-orange  2     Orange-yellow 

3  Red-orange  3     Orange-yellow 

4  Red-orange  4     Orange-yellow 

5  Red-orange  5     Orange-yellow 
But  he  adds  :  "I  attach  no  importance  to  this  nomenclature. 

I  employ  it  only  as  the  simplest  to  distinguish  the  seventy- two 
scales  just  described.  The  number  may  be  increased  indefi- 
nitely by  inserting  as  many  as  we  choose  between  the  above." 
The  trouble  with  his  scheme  was  that  it  lacked  any  standard 
or  definite  measurement  by  which  any  one  of  the  hues  indicated 
can  be  produced  to-day.  Had  this  eminent  colorist  and  sci- 
entist established  six  definite  colors  in  the  spectrum,  which 
we  could  determine  as  his  six  colors,  and  from  them  given 
us  seventy-two  well-defined  hues,  how  greatly  advanced  would 
be  the  color  education  of  our  time  compared  with  its  present 
condition  ! 


e 

Yellow 

1 

Yellow 

2 

Yellow 

3 

Yellow 

4 

Yellow 

5 

Yellow 

/ 

Yellow- green 

1 

Yellow-green 

2 

Yellow-green 

3 

Yellow-green 

4 

Yellow-green 

5 

Yellow-green 

62  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

While  treating  the  same  subject  Von  Bezold  says  :  "Never- 
theless, the  works  of  prominent  colorists  show  a  very  consis- 
tent application  of  certain  expedients,  and  it  does  not  admit  of 
a  doubt  that  these  masters  had  formulated,  at  least  for  their 
own  use,  fixed  systems  for  the  treatment  and  application  of 
color,  which  may  perhaps  have  been  handed  down  as  traditions 
to  their  personal  scholars,  but  which  others  can  only  recon- 
struct with  difficulty  from  their  works.  Such  systems  cannot 
become  common  property,  unless  it  should  be  possible  to  give 
them  a  scientific  expression." 

Much  might  be  said  in  criticism  and  even  ridicule  of  the 
grotesque  confusion  which  prevails  in  regard  to  naming  colors 
in  the  commercial  world,  as  well  as  among  authors  who  call 
themselves  scientists.  There*  is  no  limit  to  the  flights  under- 
taken by  milliners,  dry-goods  men  and  paint  manufacturers  in 
their  attempts  to  eclipse  each  other's  nomenclature.  To  illus- 
trate their  soaring  fancies  we  may  be  excused  from  quoting 
literally  from  the  advertising  columns  of  a  current  daily 
newspaper  : — 

''Some  of  the  colors  are  beauiiful.      Words   can   hardly  liint 

bright  golden  yellow 
tender  spring-like  stem  greens 
delicate  blue-gray  shades 
rosy  lilacs  and  pale  lavenders 
rich  new  egg-plant  purple 

and  all  the  old  favorites,  including  clear  rose  pink,  true  blue, 
china  blue  and  pale  baby  blue. 

All  sorts  of  yellow  will  be  good,  such  as 

Creme,  which  means  ivory  white 
Gluten,  deep  cream 
Mais,  corn  color 
Ebenier,  deeper  shade  of  corn 
Bled 'or,  still  deeper 
Toreador,  warm  yellow 
Faille,  straw  color 
Bonton  d'  or,  buttercup 
Vieille  paille,  old  straw 

in  fact  all  yellows  going  down  as  deep  as  the  old  color  called 
Mandarin  and  branching  into  terra  cotta,  but  this  latter  will  be 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  63 

used  gingerly ;   next  to  yellow   comes  sky  blue,  which   is  the 

rage    just   now   in  Paris  but  may   not   last.     Then  comes   the 

Eiffel  range  of  shades, 

Aurore,  a  pinkish  lava 
Eittel,  a  reddish  brown 
Marronier,  deeper  vieux  rose. 

The  newest  color  most  talked  up  is  Aubergine — what  you  call 
egg  plant.  These  are  shown  in  velvet  pansies  and  orchids  to 
be  worn  both  on  black  and  acorn-tinted  hats  and  bonnets. 

Seabiense,  a  deep  shade  of  heliotrope 
Prune,  still  deeper 

are  also  in  this  series ;    outside  these  are  some  reds,  pinks  and 

beiges. 

Coquelicot,  a  poppy  red 

Cardinal,  a  deeper  red 

Poupre,  intense  red 

Azalee,  deep  salmon  pink 

Ceres,  fawn  color 

Colombe,  perfect  shade  of  dove 

Beige,  a  wood  shade 

No  confidence  whatever  in  grays,  greens  or  browns." 

That  the  commercial  people  have  some  excuse  for  confusing 
themselves  and  the  public  while  indulging  in  such  flights  of 
language  may  be  conceded,  because  they  can  only  be  judged 
by  commercial  rules  and  influenced  by  commercial  consider- 
ations. But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  scientists  who  are 
struggling  with  the  attempt  to  adequately  and  comprehen- 
sively name  the  many  colors  which  they  and  the  rest  of  man- 
kind have  occasion  to  use  ?  According  to  their  own  confession 
they  have  not  fared  well  in  the  past,  for  Von  Bezold  says  in 
his  "Theory  of  Color"  :  "The  names  of  colors,  as  usually  em- 
ployed, have  so  little  to  do  with  the  scientific,  technical  aspects 
of  the  subject  that  we  are  in  reality  dealing  with  the  peculiari- 
ties of  language."  Recognizing  the  painful  lack  of  a  satisfac- 
tory color  nomenclature  and  being  particularly  interested  in 
ornithology,  Robert  Ridgway  curator  in  the  United  States 
national  nuiseum,  wrote  a  book  a  few  years  ago  for  the  sake  of 
establishing  "a  nomenclature  which  shall  fix  a  standard  for  the 
numerous  hues,   tints  and  shades  which  are  currently  adopted, 


64  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

and  now  form  a  part  of  the  language  of  descriptive  natural 
history."  In  the  preface  he  assures  us  that  he  has  spared  no 
pains  to  accomplish  his  object,  and  admits  that  certain  of  the 
names  adopted  may  not  be  entirely  satisfactory,  but  puts  in 
the  plea  that  when  those  which  are  exclusively  pertinent  or 
otherwise  satisfactory  are  not  at  hand  they  must  be  looked  up 
or  invented.  In  his  opening  article  on  "  The  Principles  of 
Color"  Mr.  Ridgway  states  the  case  as  follows  :  "  The  popu- 
lar nomenclature  of  colors  has  of  late  years,  especially  since 
the  introduction  of  aniline  dyes  and  pigments,  become  in- 
volved in  almost  chaotic  confusion  through  a  coinage  of  a 
multitude  of  new  names,  many  of  them  synonymous,  and  still 
more  of  them  vague  or  variable  in  their  meaning.  These  new 
names  are  far  too  numerous  to  be  of  any  practical  utility,  even 
were  each  one  identifiable  with  a  particular  fixed  tint.  Many 
of  them  are  invented  at  the  caprice  of  the  dyer  or  manufacturer 
of  fabrics,  and  are  as  capricious  in  their  meaning  as  in  their 
origin,  among  them  being  such  fanciful  names  as  "Zulu," 
"Crushed  Strawberry,"  "Baby  Blue,"  "Woodbine-berry," 
"Night  Green,"  etc.,  besides  such  nonsensical  names  as 
"Ashes  of  Roses,"  "Elephants'  Breath,"  "  Peacock  Blue,'^ 
"Calves'  Liver,"  and  "Iron  Rust  Red."  An  inspection  of  the 
sample-books  of  manufacturers  of  various  fancy-goods  (such 
as  embroidery  silks  and  crewels)  is  sufficient  to  show  the  abso- 
lute want  of  system  or  classification  which  prevails,  thus  ren- 
dering these  names  peculiarly  unavailing  for  the  purposes  of 
science,  where  absolute  fixity  of  the  nomenclature  is  even  more 
necessary  than    its  simplification." 

After  treating  his  subject  exhaustively  this  same  author  pre- 
sents his  readers  with  ten  pages  of  color  plates  illustrating  the 
best  collection  of  colors  which  he  has  to  offer.  The  list  in- 
cludes about  two  hundred,  and  here  are  some  of  the  names 
which  Mr.  Ridgway  uses  :  Mouse  Gray  ;  Slate  Black  ;  Smoke 
Gray  ;  Pearl  Gray  ;  Seal  Brown  ;  Clove  Brown  ;  Walnut  Brown  ; 
Mummy  Brown ;  Fawn  Color ;  Isabella  Color ;  Hair  Brown ; 
Ecru  Drab  ;  Claret  Brown  ;  Liver  Brown  ;  Dragons'  Blood  Red  ; 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  65 

Ba}' ;  Salmon  Buff ;  Vivaceous  Pink  ;  Gallstone  Yellow  ;  Indian 
Yellow  ;  Wax  Yellow  ;  Maize  Yellow  ;  Lake  Red  ;  Poppy  Red  ; 
Flame  Scarlet;  Chinese  Oranoe ;  Peach  Blossoms  Pink;  Prune 
Purple  ;  Indian  Purple  ;  Phlox  Purple  ;  Wine  Purple  ;  Mauve  ; 
Berlin  Blue  ;  Paris  Blue  ;  Flax  Flower  Blue  ;  Nile  Blue  ;  Bottle 
Green ;  Apple  Green  ;  Oil  Green. 

After  reading  the  list,  of  which  the  above  is  but  a  small  part, 
one  is  tempted  to  inquire  of  the  learned  author  whether  he 
really  believes  that  ''for  the  purpose  of  science  absolute 
fixity  of  the  nomenclature  is  even  more  necessary  than  its 
simplification"  ? 

AVhile  treating  this  matter  of  nomenclature  we  wish  the 
reader  to  understand  that  we  do  not  assume  to  formulate  any 
unalterable  scheme  of  nomenclature,  but  to  merely  suggest 
a  collection  of  symbols  based  on  a  scientific  analysis  of  light 
and  appl}"  them  to  a  line  of  colored  papers  for  primary  educa- 
tion, thereby  putting  our  ideas  to  a  positive  test.  By  so  doing 
we  expect  to  draw  out  criticism,  which  will  be  gladly  received 
when  accompanied  by  improvement.  Criticism,  however,  with- 
out suggested  improvement  is  useless,  as  it  does  not  advance 
reform.  We  do  aim  to  establish  a  nomenclature  which  shall 
convey  a  definite  impression  regarding  the  composition  of  col- 
ors. For  instance,  we  will  use  the  initials  of  the  colors  to 
represent  the  six  standard  spectrum  colors  :  R  for  red,  O  for 
orange,  Y^  for  yellow,  G  for  green,  B  for  blue,  V  for  violet. 
For  white  we  use  W,  but  while  we  should  in  the  ordinary  se- 
quence use  B  for  black  that  letter  has  already  been  employed 
to  designate  blue,  so  we  must  adopt  some  other  symbol  and  we 
choose  the  Latin  word,  Niger,  for  black,  already  found  in 
chemistry,  and  use  N  for  black.  Thus  in  a  general  way  a  very 
simple  nomenclature  at  once  suggests  itself.  For  all  the  tints 
W  precedes  the  letter  symbol  of  the  color,  as  WR  for  the  tints 
of  red,  WO  for  orange  tints,  and  so  on.  For  shades  the  letters 
are  NR,  NO,  NY,  etc.  For  intermediate  hues  the  two  color 
symbols  are  combined,  as,  for  example,  the  hues  between  red 
and  orange,  R  and  O,  are  combined,  and  so  on  through  the  spec- 


66  COLOR  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

trum.  The  same  principle  is,  of  course,  followed  in  the  combi- 
nations of  tlie  old  secondaries,  and  therefore  all  the  olives  as 
generally  accepted  are  represented  by  VG,  Russets  by  VO  and 
citrines  by  GO,  or  if  instead  of  the  violet  of  the  spectrum  we 
use  a  purple,  we  have  PG,  PO  and  GO. 

Here  we  also  have  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  be  definite, 
when  we  so  desire,  which  is  impossible  in  the  old  scheme  of 
primaries,  secondaries  and  tertiaries.  For  example,  in  a  tint 
of  red  we  may  have  WR  5743,  which  indicates  that  for  this  tint 
we  take  57  parts  of  white  and  43  parts  of  the  standard  red  as 
determined  by  the  Maxwell  disks  when  rotated  on  the  wheel. 
Or  for  a  deeper  tint  we  have  WR  3367,  i.  e.,  white  33  parts 
and  red  67  parts.  For  a  shade  of  red  we  may  have  NR  5545, 
or  NR  7525.  If  it  is  an  intermediate  hue  we  wish  to  indicate 
we  may  have  for  a  greenish-yellow  tint  WYG  254035,  which 
indicates  that  we  have  white  25,  yellow  40,  green  35  ;  or  for  a 
shade  of  same  color  we  can  take  NYG  383230,  i.  e.,  black  38, 
yellow  32,  green  30  parts.  If  in  the  disks  used  we  secure 
the  whitest  white  and  the  blackest  black  it  is  possible  to 
make,  and  the  standards  of  color  have  been  accepted,  although 
the  black  and  the  colored  disks  reflect  a  small  percentage  ot 
white  light  and  the  white  disk  some  gray,  yet  we  have  a  stand- 
ard and  a  nomenclature  practically  correct.  In  this  connec- 
tion the  reader  is  referred  to  our  scheme  of  colored  papers 
described  in  Chapter  X. 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM,  67 


CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  PROPER  COMBINATION  OP  COLORS. 

nr  HE  impossibility  of  formulating  any  very  definite  rules 
^  by  which  a  person  unskilled  in  the  combination  of  colors 
can  properl)'  use  them  to  produce  artistic  effects  seems  to  be 
generally  accepted.  This  proves,  however,  that  something  is 
wrong,  because  in  all  other  lines  of  scientific  research  a  student 
may  avoid  absolute  mistakes  during  his  progress  by  obeying 
definite  laws,  although  he  may  not  achieve  the  highest  de- 
gree of  success.  There  are  certain  general  principles  which  the 
student  who  is  earnestly  seeking  to  make  artistic  color  combi- 
nations ought  to  be  able  to  master  from  printed  instructions  in 
this  mysterious  art. 

The  subject  of  simultaneous  contrasts  seems  to  lie  at  the 
foundation  of  the  harmonies  of  color  combinations.  If  a  disk 
of  green  paper,  two  inches  in  diameter,  is  placed  on  a  white  or 
gray  wall  and  the  eye  intently  fixed  on  it  for  a  time  and  then 
turned  a  little  so  as  to  rest  on  the  plain  part  of  the  wall,  a 
disk  of  red  tint  will  be  plainly  seen.  This  red  tint  is  the  sim- 
ultaneous or  complementary  color  to  the  green,  although  in  this 
experiment  it  may  be  said  to  be  only  a  ghost  of  the  pure  color. 
The  complementary  color  is  the  one  which  must  be  added  to  a 
given  color  in  order  to  produce  white  or  gray.  In  general  a 
color  approximates  a  harmonious  contrast  with  its  true  comple- 
mentary, but  this  rule  cannot  always  be  followed  with  the  best 
effect,  and  rarely  with  the  so-called  complementaries  as  made 
with  the  three  pigments,  red,  yellow  and  blue.  For  example, 
in  the  case  of  full  or  saturated  red  and  green,  the  contrast  is 
so  hard  as  not  to  be  pleasing,  red  and  blue  often  being  better, 
while  some  combinations  in  tints  and  shades  of  red  and  green 
are  pleasing. 


68  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

Ill  coiisideriug  this  subject  it  must  always  be  remembered 
that  the  exceptions  are  so  frequent  as  to  make  it  very  difficult 
to  utilize  these  rules.  All  rules  to  be  of  any  value  must  result 
from  the  classifying,  compilation  and  assorting  of  intelligent 
and  carefully  recorded  experiments.  That  the  experiments 
which  have  been  made  in  combining  colors  are  numerous  and 
that  they  were  very  carefully  conducted  by  eminent  scientists 
and  artists  none  will  deny.  It  is  also  evident  that  through 
these  experiments  the  few  individuals  concerned  reached  a  high 
degree  of  ability  in  the  art,  but  alas,  they  had  no  means  of  re- 
cording their  knowledge  so  as  to  hand  it  down  to  succeeding 
generations.  If  we  had  to-day  a  record  of  a  hundred  or  five 
hundred  pairs  of  colors  and  triads  of  colors  which  were  pro- 
nounced by  the  universal  consent  of  generations  of  artists  as 
pleasing  or  unsatisfactory  in  combination  we  could  readily 
formulate  certain  definite  rules.  It  is  needless  to  add  that 
such  a  scheme  of  rules  would  make  an  exceedingly  valuable 
foundation  for  elementary  education  in  color. 

The  statement  is  made  that  if  the  spectrum  were  supple- 
mented with  the  violet  reds  and  the  red  violets  at  either  the 
violet  or  red  end  and  then  formed  into  a  circle  the  colors  oppo- 
site each  other  would  approximately  be  complementary  to  each 
other.  In  other  words,  if  half  the  length  of  the  spectrum 
should  be  taken  between  the  points  of  a  pair  of  spacing  com- 
passes when  one  point  is  at  a  given  color  the  oth^r  point 
would  touch  its  complementary  color.  Such  statements  are  in 
a  measure  true,  and  are  useful  in  forming  a  general  key  to  the 
complementary  colors.  Thus  the  reds  are  opposite  the  greens. 
As  the  red  approaches  the  violet  the  green  approaches  the 
yellow,  and  as  the  red  approaches  the  orange  the  green  comes 
near  the  blue.  But  having  determined  all  the  complementary 
colors  and  hues  we  are  seemingly  only  a  little  nearer  a  definite 
knowledge  of  the  best  harmonies  than  we  were  before,  because, 
with  our  present  knowledge,  there  appear  to  be  no  laws  that 
always  hold  good.  It  follows  that  if  such  laws  cannot  at 
present  be  found  we  must  rely  upon  a  multiplicity  of  separate 


COLOR  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  69 

facts  from  ^vliicli  we  may  hope  in  time  to  formulate  rules  of 
practical  value. 

In  general  the  simple  complementaries  are  stated  as  red  and 
green,  orange-red  and  blue-green,  orange  and  blue,  orange- 
3^ellow  and  violet-blue,  yellow  and  violet,  greenish  yellow  and 
reddish  violet.  But  while  in  the  full  colors  some  of  these  con- 
trasts are  pleasing  the  others  are  too  hard  and  prove  tiresome 
to  the  eyes.  According  to  some  authorities  w-e  have  such  com- 
binations as  the  following  given  as  complementaries  : — 

Vermilion  and  green  blue.  Greenish  yellow  and  French  blue. 
Orange  and  greenish  blue.  More  greenish  yellow  and  violet. 
Yellow  and  blue.  Green  and  purple. 

Barnard  skives  these  accidental  colors  with  colored  wafers 
on    a  white  ground  : — 

Red  and  bluish  green.  Indigo  and  orange  yellow. 

Orange  and  blue.  Violet  and  yellow  green. 

Yellow  and  indigo.  Black  and  white. 

Green  and  orange  red.  White  and  black. 

Chevreul  lays  down  the  following  directions  concerning 
Harmonies  of  Contrast : — 

Red  and  yellow  better  than  red  and  orange. 
Red  and  blue  better  than  red  and  violet. 
Yellow  and  red  better  than  yellow  and  orange. 
Yellow  and  blue  better  than  yellow  and  green. 
Blue  and  red  better  than  blue  and  violet. 
Blue  and  yellow  better  than  blue  and  green. 
Red  and  violet  better  than  blue  and  violet. 
Yellow  and  orange  better  than  red  and  orange. 
Yellow  and  green  better  than  blue  and  green. 

The  following  so-called  complementaries  are  taken  from 
various  published  authorities  : — 

Purple    and    green.  Orange  and  ultramarine. 

Carmine  and  bluish  green.  Yellow  and  bluish  violet. 


70  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

Vermilion  aud  turquoise  blue.      Yellowish  green  and  purplish 

violet. 

Red  and  green.  Red  and  bluish  green. 

Orange  and  blue.  Orange     and      Cyan-blue     (a 
Greenish  yellow  and  violet.  greenish  blue.) 

Indigo  and  orange  yellow.  Yellow  aud  ultramarine  blue. 

Red  and  green  blue.  Green  and  purple. 

Carmine  and  blue  green.  Greenish  yellow    and  French 
Vermilion  and  green  blue.  blue. 

Orange  and  greenish  blue.  Yellowish  green  and  violet. 
Yellow  and  blue. 


o' 


All  the  above  may  be  proper  complementaries,  but  as  long  as 
no  reader  knows  what  colors  the  authors  had  in  mind  and  rep- 
resented by  the  names  given,  they  are  of  no  value,  except  in  the 
most  general  sense.  Just  how  much  '^bluish,"  ''greenish"  or 
"yellowish"  means  no  one  can  say,  neither  can  any  one  de- 
termine with  the  least  scientific  or  artistic  accuracy  what  is  the 
color  of  vermilion  or  carmine  or  French  blue,  as  they  all  de- 
pend on  the  process  of  manufacture  and  the  mediums  with 
which  they  are  mixed. 

Also  in  purple  who  shall  say  with  any  definiteness  which  of 
the  whole  range  from  red  to  blue  is  intended  ?  And  as  for  the 
general  term  "violet,"  unless  the  spectrum  violet  is  accepted, 
the  range  is  almost  as  great. 

The  harmonious  effect  of  old  color  combinations,  and  of  the 
combinations  made  by  the  natives  of  semi-civilized  countries 
is  not  due  to  their  superior  tastes  and  knowledge  of  colors, 
but  to  the  fading  of  the  colors  and  to  their  inferior  color  pig- 
ments. We  find  that  in  certain  color  combinations,  as  for 
example  red  and  green,  each  color  is  rendered  more  brilliant  by 
the  union,  and  the  chief  objection  to  this  brightened  brilliancy 
which  to  the  children  is  most  attractive,  is  the  hardness  or 
harshness  caused  by  the  combination.  But  if  both  colors  are 
reduced  in  brilliancy  either  by  the  addition  of  white  light  or  by 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 


71 


the  want  of  light  i.  c,  the  admixture  of  gray,  as  was  the  case 
in  the  ancieut  pigments,  the  contrast  is  pleasing.  This  is  a 
result  at  which  the  ancient  color  mixers  arrived  unconsciously. 
The  principle  governing  the  combinations  of  hues,  based  on 
the  phenomena  of  simultaneous  contrasts  is  illustrated  in  the 
accompanying  diagram. 


GREEN 

GREEN 

GREEN 

RED 

BLUE 
GREEN 

ORANGE 
RED 

BLUE 
GREEN 

GREEN 
B  L  UE 

RED 
ORANGE 

GREEN 

A  M  O 

BLUE 

GREEN 
BLUE 

RED 

ORANGE 

GREEN 
BLUE 

BLUE 

ORANGE 

BLUE 

BLUE 

By  the  use  of  water  colors  the  pupils  may  be  led  to  see  this 
principle  for  themselves.  The  ends  of  the  inside  oblong  should 
be  painted  with  any  two  of  the  standard  colors  juxtaposed  in 
the  spectrum,  as  red  and  orange.  These  colors,  blended  in  the 
center,  give  the  hues  from  green  to  blue,  as  indicated,  and  the 
blending  of  red  and  orange  the  hues  from  red  to  orange,  which 
are  approximately  in  harmonious  contrast  to  their  opposite 
hues,  from  green  to  blue.  If  the  blue  predominates,  making 
a  bluish  green,  its  complementary  will  be  an  orange  hue  of  red, 
and  vice  versa. 

In  summing  up  the  argument  on  both  sides  perhaps  it  is  fair 
to  say  that  no  inflexible  line  can  be  drawn  between  good  and 
bad  combinations.  In  the  six  standard  colors  the  red,  j^ellow 
and  blue  cannot  be  combined  with  pleasure  to  an  educated  eye. 


I 


72  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

Neither  can  the  orange  and  the  red,  or  the  violet  and  the  bhie, 
or  the  green  and  the  blue.  On  the  other  hand,  the  combina- 
tions of  red  and  green,  blue  and  orange,  yellow  and  violet, 
although  strong  in  the  contrasts,  are  always  pleasing  to  a 
child,  or  any  one  whose  tastes  have  not  been  specially  culti- 
vated. If  we  show  the  child  the  contrast  of  red  and  yellow  or 
red  and  blue  and  tell  him  it  is  "  horrid"  and  then  show  him  a 
neutral  and  a  blue  and  say  to  him  that  it  is  "  perfectly  lovely," 
the  probability  is  that  he  will  fail  to  agree  with  us,  and  still 
prefer  the  red  and  yellow.  But  with  a  red  and  violet  and  a  red 
and  green  the  chances  are  that  he  will  soon  see  the  difference, 
and  will  thus  be  advanced  one  step.  In  view  of  all  these 
things  it  becomes  an  important  question  with  primary  teachers 
how  to  begin  the  color  instruction  of  little  children.  Some  of 
them  would  at  the  outset  restrict  the  pupils  to  the  use  of  such 
combinations  as  accord  with  the  best  theories  of  harmonies  and 
contrasts,  giving  them  at  first  various  colors,  with  tints  and 
shades  of  the  same  or  with  neutrals.  Others  allow  the  con- 
trasts of  complementaries,  and  there  are  those  who  even  think 
it  better  to  permit  the  children  for  a  time  to  use  the  standards 
at  random,  and  only  guide  them  in  their  selections  as  their 
eyes  become  ti'ained.  Many  conservative  kindergartners  and 
primary-school  teachers  favor  a  medium  course,  between  the 
two  extremes.  If  the  children  are  left  to  select  such  colors  as 
they  please  for  any  length  of  time,  without  any  instruction  and 
guidance,  they  will  make  but  little  progress  in  color  education, 
and  may  become  so  accustomed  to  bad  combinations  as  to  dull 
their  natural  perceptions.  On  the  other  hand,  if  they  are  never 
permitted  to  make  bad  combinations,  w^hich  can  be  contrasted 
with  those  that  are  pleasing,  one  of  the  best  possible  elements 
of  education  is  lost,  because  in  all  art  instruction,  where  the 
values  of  the  work  depend  on  form  and  color,  the  comparison 
of  the  beautiful  with  the  ugly  can  often  be  made  the  best  possi- 
ble means  of  education.  In  teaching  color  it  is  always  safe  to 
deal  with  the  tints  and  shades  of  the  same  color,  and  they  are 
generally  more  pleasing  to  children  and  others  who  are  not 


COLOR  IN  THE  SCHOOL-EOOMj  73 

trained  in  this  branch  of  education  than  the  standards  and 
neutrals.  AVhichever  plan  of  instruction  is  adopted  the  teacher 
should  follow  some  definite  policy. 

Owen  Jones  is  often  referred  to  as  an  acknowledged  au- 
thority and  his  "Grammar  of  Ornament"  as  of  great  recognized 
value.  As  this  work  is  somewhat  expensive  we  make  copious 
extracts  from  it  and  give  complete  his  Thirty-seven  Proposi- 
tions, M'hich  he  calls  general  principles  in  the  arrangement  of 
form  and  color  in  architecture  and  the  decorative  arts. 

Proposition  1. 

The  Decorative  Arts  arise  from,  and  should  properly  be  at- 
tendant upon  architecture. 

Proposition  2. 

Architecture  is  the  material  expression  of  the  wants,  the 
faculties    and    the  sentiments  of  the  age  in  which  it  is  created. 

Style  in  Architecture  is  the  peculiar  form  that  expression 
takes  under  the  influence  of  climate  and  materials  at  command. 

Proposition  3. 

As  Architecture,  so  all  works  of  the  Decorative  Arts,  should 
possess  fitness,  proportion,  harmony,  the  result  of  all  which  is 
repose. 

Proposition  4. 

True  beauty  results  from  that  repose  which  the  mind  feels 
when  the  eye,  the  intellect  and  the  affections  are  satisfied 
from  the  absence  of  any  want. 

Proposition  6. 

Construction  should  be  decorated.  Decoration  should  never 
be  purposely  constructed. 

That  which  is  beautiful  is  true ;  that  which  is  true  must  be 
beautiful. 

Proposition  6. 

Beauty  of  form  is  produced  by  lines  growing  out  one  from 
the  other  in  gradual  undulations ;  there  are  no  excrescences ; 
nothing  could  be  removed  and  leave  the  design  equally  good  or 
better. 


74  COLOR  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM, 

Proposition  7. 

The  general  forms  being  first  cared  for,  these  should  be  sub- 
divided and  ornamented  by  general  lines ;  the  interstices  maj^ 
then  be  filled  in  with  ornament,  which  may  again  be  subdivided 
and  enriched  for  closer  inspection. 

Proposition  8. 

All  ornament  should  be  based  upon  a  geometrical  con- 
struction. 

Proposition  9. 

As  in  every  perfect  work  of  Architecture  a  "true  proportion 
will  be  found  to  reign  between  all  the  members  which  compose 
it  so,  throughout  the  Decorative  Arts  every  assemblage  of 
forms  should  be  arranged  on  certain  definite  proportions ;  the 
whole  and  each  particular  member  should  be  a  multiple  of  some 
particular  unit. 

Those  proportions  will  be  the  most  beautiful  which  it  will  be 
the  most  difficult  for  the  eye  to  detect.  Thus  the  proportion  of 
a  double  square,  or  4  to  8,  will  be  less  beautiful  than. the  more 
subtle  ratio  of  5  to  8 ;  3  to  6,  than  3  to  7 ;  3  to  9,  than  3  to  8  ; 
3  to  4,  than  3  to  5. 

Proposition  10. 

Harmony  of  form  consists  in  the  proper  balancing  and  con- 
trast of  the  straight,  the  inclined  and  the  cui-ved. 

Proposition  11. 

In  surface  decoration  all  lines  should  flow  out  of  a  parent 
stem.  Every  ornament,  however  distant,  should  be  traced  to 
its  branch  and  root.      Oriental  practice. 

Proposition  12. 

All  junctions  of  curved  lines  with  curved  or  of  curved  lines 
with  straight  should  be  tangential  to  each  other.  Natural 
LAW.     Oriental  practice  in  accordance  with  it. 

Proposition  13. 

Flowers  or  other  natural  objects  should  not  be  used  as 
ornaments,    but    conventional    representations    founded  upon 


COLOR  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  lb 

them  sutiieiently  suggestive  to  convey  the  inteuded  image  to 
the  mind,  without  destroying  the  unity  of  the  object  they  are 
employed   to    decorate.       Universally    obeyed    in   the    best 

PEKI01>S    OF    AHT,    El,)UALLY    VIOLATED  AVIIEN  AI{T    liECLINES. 

Proposition  14. 

Color  is  used  to  assist  in  the  development  of  form,  and  to 
distinguish  objects  or  parts  of  objects  one  from  another. 

Proposition  15. 
Color  is  used  to   assist  light  and   shade,  helping  the  undu- 
lations   of  form    by    the    proper    distribution    of    the    several 
colors. 

Proposition  16. 
These  objects  are  best  attained   by  the   use  of  the  primary 
colors  on  small  surfaces  and  in  small  quantities,  balanced  and 
supported  by   the  secondary  and  tertiary  colors  on  the  larger 
masses.  ♦    " 

Proposition  17. 

The  primary  colors  should  be  used  on  the  upper  portions  of 
objects,  the  secondary  and  tertiary  on  the  lower. 

Proposition  18. 

(FIELD'S  CHROMATIC  EQUIVALENTS.) 

The  primaries  of  equal  intensities  will  harmonize  or  neutral- 
ize each  other,  in  the  proportions  of  3  yellow,  5  red,  and  8 
blue,  integrally  as  IG. 

The  secondaries  in  the  proportions  of  8  orange,  13  purple, 
11  green,  integrally  as  32. 

The  tertiaries,  citrine  (compound  of  orange  and  green)  19  ; 
russet  (orange  and  purple)  21  ;  olive  (green  and  purple)  24  ; 
integrally  as  04. 

It  follows  that : — 

Each  secondary  being  a  compound  of  two  primaries  is 
neutralized  by  the  remaining  primary  in  the  same  proportions  : 
Thus,  8  of  orange  by  8  of  blue,  11  of  green  by  5  of  red,  13 
of  purple  by  3  of  yellow. 


76  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

Each  tertiary  being  a  binary  compound  of  two  secondaries, 
is  neutralized  by  the  remaining  secondary  :  As  2\  of  olive  by 
8  of  orange,  21  of  russet  by  11  of  green,  19  of  citrine  by  13 
of  purple. 

Note.  M.  Bezold  saj-s  concerning  this  :  '•  It  will  always  remain 
incomprehensible  that  "^even  ii  man  like  Owen  Jones  in  the  text  ac- 
corapauyiug  liis  beautiful  '^Grammar  of  Ornament"  should  have 
adopted  this  proposition  in  the  form  given  to  it  by  Field,  since  among 
all  the  ornaments  reproduced  in  tlie  ^^'ork  just  mentioned  th(»re  are 
scarcely  any  which  really  show  the  distribution  of  colors  demanded 
by  the  i^roposition  in  question. 

Proposition  19. 

The  above  supposes  the  colors  to  be  used  in  their  prismatic 
intensities,  but  each  color  has  a  variety  of  tones  when  mixed 
with  white  or  of  shades  when  mixed  with  gray  or  black. 

When  a  full  color  is  contrasted  with  another  of  a  lower  tone, 
the  volume  of  the  latter  must  be  proportionately  increased. 

Note.  Here  "  tones*'  is  used  in  place  of  "  tints,  "  thus  affording  a 
striking  example  of  the  looseness  with  which  terms  relating  to  color 
are  used,  even  by  the  best  authorities. 

Proposition  20. 

Each  color  has  a  variety  of  hues,  obtained  by  admixture 
with  other  colors,  in  addition  to  white,  gray,  or  black  :  Thus  we 
have  of  yellow,  orange-yellow  on  the  one  side,  and  lemon- 
yellow  on  the  other ;  so  of  red,  scarlet-red  and  crimson-red ; 
and  of  each,  every  variety  of  tone  and  shade. 

When  a  primary  tinged  with  another  primary  is  contrasted 
with  a  secondary,  the  secondary  must  have  a  hue  of  the  third 
primary. 

Proposition  21. 

In  using  the  primary  colors  on  molded  surfaces,  we  should 
place  blue,  which  retires,  on  the  concave  surfaces ;  yellow, 
which  advances,  on  the  convex ;  and  red,  the  intermediate  color, 
on  the  under  sides  ;  separating  the  colors  by  white  on  the  ver- 
tical planes. 

When  the  proportions  required  by  Proposition  18  cannot  be 
obtained,    we    may    procure  the  balance  by    a    change    in  the 


COLOR   IN  THE   SCHOOL-ROOM.  11 

colors  themselves,  thus,  if  the  surfaces  to  be  colored  should 
o'ive  too  nuR'Ii  yellow,  we  should  uitike  the  red  uiore  crhusou 
and  the  blue  more  purple,  i.  e.,  we  should  take  the  yellow  out 
of  them ;  so  if  the  surfaces  should  <2;ive  too  much  blue,  we 
should  make  the  yellow  more  orauge  and  the  red  more  scarlet. 

Proposition  22. 

The  various  colors  should  be  so  blended  that  the  objects 
colored,  when  viewed  at  a  distance,  should  present  a  neutral- 
ized bloom. 

Note.  The  truth  of  this  proposition  is  emphatically  denied  by  M. 
Bezokl  in  his  theory  of  colok,  and  in  proof  he  states  that  the 
best  specimens  of  tine  art  as  well  as  decorative  colorings  do  not  in  the 
least  jjive  the  impression  of  a  neutral  gray  when  seen  at  a  distance, 
but  show  a  decided  dominating  hue. 

Proposition  23. 
No  composition  can  ever  be  perfect  in  which  any  one  of  the 
three  primary   colors   is  wanting,   either   in  its  natural  state  or 
in  combination. 

Proposition  24. 

AVhen  two  tones  of  the  same  color  are  juxtaposed,  the  light 
color  will  appear  lighter  and  the  dark  color  darker. 

Proposition  25. 

When  two  different  colors  are  juxtaposed,  they  receive  a 
double  modification ;  first,  as  to  their  tone  (the  light  color  ap- 
pearing lighter  and  the  dark  color  appearmg  darker)  ;  secondly, 
as  to  their  hue,  each  will  become  tinged  with  the  complemen- 
tary color  of  the  other. 

Proposition  26. 

Colors  on  white  grounds  appear  darker ;  on  black  grounds, 
lighter. 

Proposition  27. 
Black   grounds   suffer  when  opposed  to  colors  which  give  a 
luminous  complementary. 

Proposition  28. 

Colors  should   never  be  allowed   to  iin])ino:e  upon  each  other. 


78  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

Proposition  29. 
When  ornaments  in  a  color  are  on  a  ground  of  a  contrasting 
color,  the  ornaments  should  be  separated  from  the  ground  by 
an  edging  of  lighter  color ;  as  a  red  flower  on  a  green  ground 
should  have  an  edging  of  lighter  red. 

Proposition  30, 

When  ornaments  in  a  color  are  on  a  gold  ground,  the  orna- 
ments should  be  separated  from  the  ground  by  an  edging  of  a 
darker  color. 

Proposition  31. 

Gold  ornaments  on  any  colored  ground  should  be  outlined 
with  black. 

Proposition  32 

Ornaments  of  any  color  may  be  separated  from  grounds  of 
any  other  color  by  edgings  of  white,  gold  or  black. 

Proposition  33. 

Ornaments  in  any  color,  or  in  gold,  may  be  used  on  white  or 
black  grounds,  without  outline  or  edging. 

Proposition  34. 

In  "  self -tints, "  tones  or  shades  of  the  same  color,  a  light 
tint  on  a  dark  ground  may  be  used  without  outline ;  but  a  dark 
ornament  on  a  light  ground  requires  to  be  outlined  with  a  still 
darker  tint. 

Proposition  35. 

Imitations,  such  as  the  graining  of  woods,  and  of  the  va- 
rious colored  marbles,  allowable  only  when  the  employment 
of  the  thing  imitated  would  not  have  been  consistent. 

Proposition  36. 

The  principles  discoverable  in  the  works  of  the  past  belong 
to  us  ;  not  so  the  results.      It  is  taking  the  end  for  the  means. 

Proposition  37. 

No  imjjrovement  can  take  place  in  the  Art  of  the  present 
generation  until  all  classes,  Artists,  Manufacturers  and  the 
Public,  are  better  educated  in  Art,  and  the  existence  of  gen- 
eral principles  is  more  fully  recognized. 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  79 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  BRADLEY  SCHEME  OF  COLORED 

PAPERS. 

T^  AVING  set  forth  in  the  preceding  pages  what  seem  to 

^l  be  the  essential  points  in  the  science  of  color  and  the  ap- 
parent needs  of  an  adequate  color  education,  it  is  now  in  order 
to  suggest  methods  of  study  for  the  pupil  and  materials  best 
adapted  to  such  study. 

In  all  color  education  the  color  feeling  must  be  cultivated, 
and  in  the  primary  grades  this  can  be  better  done  with  ready- 
made  colors,  if  correctly  adjusted,  than  by  the  combination  and 
application  of  pigments.  While  the  truth  of  this  proposition 
has  been  readily  accepted  in  the  abstract  by  many  of  our  best 
kindergartners  and  primary-school  teachers,  the  absolute  want 
of  any  such  adequate  material  has  seemed  to  necessitate  the 
introduction  of  water  colors  as  the  best-known  medium.  In 
the  use  of  paints  in  water  or  oil  the  attention  of  the  child  must 
be  divided  between  the  study  of  color  and  the  methods  of  ma- 
nipulating the  pigments,  and  in  the  seeming  necessity  for 
selecting  water  colors  in  preference  to  oil,  on  the  grounds  of 
economy  and  conveience,  a  material  has  been  adopted  with 
which  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  produce  a  flat  surface  of  a 
full  color,  and  which,  while  adapted  to  most  beautiful  effects 
in  lighter  tints,  is  entirely  unfit  for  primary  instruction  in 
color. 

To  meet  this  demand  for  prepared  material  the  Milton 
Bradley  Company  are  manufacturing  a  line  of  colored  papers 
which  are  designated  by  symbols  having  a  definite  meaning, 
derived  from  the  scientific  study  of  color  as  briefly  explained 
in  the  foregoing  chapters.     It  has  often  been  urged  against 


fif 


80  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

colored  papers  that  because  in  some  of  them  arsenic  is  used 
they  must  be  dangerous  for  children  to  handle,  and  for  this 
reason  no  arsenic  has  been  allowed  to  enter  into  the  composi- 
tion of  these  papers.  The  whole  collection  has  been  prepared 
after  a  long  series  of  careful  experiments,  and  includes  all  the 
hues,  tints  and  shades  necessary  for  thorough  elementary  color 
teaching.  These  colors  contain  and  are  based  on  the  six  spec- 
trum standards  and  are  believed  to  fulfill  the  requisite  condi- 
tions for  color  teaching  in  the  primary  grades  and  come  as 
near  perfection  as  has  thus  far  been  possible  in  the  attempt 
to  match  the  liquid  immaterial  colors  of  the  spectrum  with  ma- 
terial colors.  By  combining  the  use  of  these  colored  papers 
with  that  of  the  rotating  colored  disks  the  average  teacher  can 
lay  a  broad  foundation  in  contrasts  and  harmonies  of  colors. 
Having  secured  such  a  foundation,  it  will  be  an  easy  matter 
for  the  teacher  to  produce  a  large  variety  of  other  colors  with 
pigments  in  water  or  oil  which  will  be  of  great  value. 

In  using  these  papers,  after  the  pupils  have  become  familiar 
with  the  six  principal  spectrum  colors  and  black  and  white,  the 
first  combinations  to  be  made  are  the  six  colors  with  their  re- 
spective tints  and  shades  and  the  grays. 

In  o-der  to  show  tints  and  shades,  the  assortment  contains 
two  tints  and  two  shades  of  each  of  the  six  colors,  which  pro- 
vide sufficient  variety  for  educational  purposes,  although  it 
is  evident  that  there  may  be  an  infinite  number  of  shades 
and  tints  of  each  color.  Having  exhausted  the  value  of  this 
selection  of  colored  papers,  the  teacher  can  avail  herself  of 
a  second  collection  comprising  the  spectrum  hues  between  the 
standards  with  one  tint  and  one  shade  of  each,  which  is  made 
up  as  follows  :  Orange-red,  red-orange,  yellow-orange,  orange- 
yellow,  green-yellow,  yellow-green,  blue-green,  green-blue, 
violet-blue,  blue- violet,  red-violet,  violet-red. 

In  addition  to  these  colors  the  assortment  contains  combina- 
tions of  orange  and  green,  orange  and  violet,  violet  and  green, 
blue  and  red  for  purples,  and  also  a  purple  with  the  orange 
and  with  the  green.     To  these  will  be  added  any  further  colors 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 


81 


whicli  experience  shall  prove  to  be  necessary,  but  with  the  de- 
sign to  keep  the  line  as  simple  as  is  sufficient  for  primary  edu- 
cational wants.  AVe  do  not  hesitate  to  claim  that  this  com])i- 
nation  can  be  made  to  do  better  class-work  as  far  as  pure  edu- 
cation of  color  sense  goes  than  can  be  possibly  secured  by  the 
use  of  anything  short  of  a  good  pallette  of  oil  colors.  In 
making  this  statement  we  have  no  desire  to  overlook  the  value 
of  technical  experience  in  the  use  of  either  water  or  oil  colors. 
The  use  of  these  materials  will  be  in  order  in  the  school-room 
as  soon  as  the  ability  to  draw  is  so  far  advanced  that  the 
children  can  produce  the  necessary  outlines  and  designs  within 
which  to  neatly  place  the  colors. 

Perhaps  a  word  of  explanation  regarding  the  way  in  which 
the  standards  have  been  determined  may  be  helpful  here,  al- 
though the  matter  has  been  stated  more  fully  in  a  preceding 
chapter.  In  deciding  the  exact  hues  to  be  called  standards  we 
have  regarded  the  general  opinion  or  impressions  of  as  many 
students  of  color  as  could  be  conveniently  consulted.  As  a 
consequence,  in  the  red  w^e  have  selected  the  d?epest  red,  in- 
stead of  an  approach  to  the  vermilions  or  the  carmines.  The 
orange  is  a  natural  pigment  which  is  a  nearer  match  to  the  pure 
orange  of  the  spectrum  than  can  possibly  be  made  from  any 
red  and  yellow  pigments.  As  there  is  very  little  yellow  in  the 
spectrum  and  what  we  do  find  is  not  very  intense,  the  quality 
of  the  color  impression  at  the  dividing  line  between  the  orange 
and  the  green  is  imitated,  but  possibly  with  somewhat  greater 
intensity  than  the  actual  facts  will  warrant. 

The  blue  is  the  hue  commonly  known  as  pure  ultramarine, 
which  is  recognized  as  the  nearest  possible  match  to  the  spec- 
trum blue  'that  can  be  found  in  pigments,  although  we  have 
been  more  accustomed  to  a  blue  with  a  tint  of  red  in  it,  which  is 
a  softer  color  in  many  combinations.  The  violet  will  probabl}^ 
be  a  disappointment  to  many,  because  they  will  regard  it  as 
not  deep  enough,  having  been  used  to  a  deep  blue  purple 
for  the  sixth  color,  but  our  violet  is  the  spectrum  color  and 
the  deeper  color  must  be  made  by  other  combinations,  as  it  is 


82  COLOR  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

not  found  in  the  spectrum.  To  sum  up  the  whole  matter,  the 
intended  use  of  the  spectrum  has  been  to  merely  get  a  line 
of  standards  from  which  by  combinations  to  produce  a  line  of 
educational  colors  acceptable  to  the  color-educated  eye  and  in 
accordance  with  the  science  of  color. 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  83 


CHAPTER  XI. 
COLORED  PAPER  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 


BY   MISS  JEAXNIE   C.   McKECHNIE. 


jn  HE  teaching  of  color  has  until  recently  been  considered 
^  as  belonging  only  to  the  specially  gifted  ones  who  hoped 
to  become  colorists,  either  for  personal  enjoyment  or  as  profes- 
sional artists.  At  the  present  time  there  is  increasing  interest 
in  this  subject  and  all  leading  educators  are  giving  their  best 
thought  to  it.  It  would  be  arrogant  indeed  to-day  to  lay  down 
any  fixed  laws  or  methods  to  be  followed  as  the  best  way  of  teach- 
ing color.  Of  necessity  all  color  work  in  our  schools  must 
be  experimental.  As  an  educational  problem  it  is  still  to  be 
solved.  But  we  can  at  least  make  sure  that  the  foundations 
we  lay  are  safe  and  true,  that  those  who  follow  us  may  not 
have  to  undo  and  build  better,  but  may  build  upon  what  has 
been  already  laid. 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  reasons  for  color  teaching 
in  our  schools.  All  our  progress  in  educational  lines  has  been 
the  result  of  the  psychological  study  of  the  child's  mind,  the 
seeing  things  through  his  eyes,  and  judging  them  from  his 
stand-point.  We  know  that  what  the  child  sees  in  life  depends 
much  upon  what  he  is  trained  to  see  in  school.  We  are  seek- 
ing to  develop  the  child  in  all  points  symmetrically.  The  ele- 
ment of  color  enters  as  an  influence  into  his  life  at  a  very  early 
age.  The  love  of  color  is  as  much  a  part  of  our  nature  as  the 
love  of  music.  Color  is  not  as  important  as  form.  I  question 
if  it  assists  in  developing  form.     It  is  an  ornament  to  it,  but 


i 


84  COLOR   IN  THE   SCHOOL-ROOM. 

does  it  not  to  some  extent  disguise  it  ?  We  want  to  lead  the 
children  to  appreciate  thought  in  color  and  to  interpret  and 
express  thought  through  color.  AVhen  once  we  see  keenly 
enough,  there  is  no  trouble  in  representing  what  we  see.  We 
wish  to  develop  the  aesthetic  nature  of  the  pupil  and  prepare 
him  for  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  beautiful  and  true  in  nature 
and  art.     "The  beautiful  is  true,  the  true  must  be  beautiful." 

The  principles  underlying  the  science  of  color  must  become 
more  than  mere  theories  to  him.  They  must  be  so  applied  by 
him  that  the  interest  in  application  will  forever  fix  them  in 
memory.  Any  method  of  work  which  helps  to  bring  out  of  a 
child  that  which  God  has  put  in  him,  making  his  work  a  de- 
lightful discipline  of  mind  and  body,  is  a  right  method.  A  true 
teacher  knows  how  much  value  to  put  on  the  teaching  which 
brings  the  sparkle  to  the  e3'e,  and  arouses  all  the  self-respect 
and  manliness  in  a  boy  conscious  of  having  done  a  piece  of 
work  well.  In  the  teaching  of  color  we  have  a  double  advan- 
tage in  that  it  is  beautiful  in  itself.  It  holds  in  itself  its  own 
attraction  for  the  children. 

True,  there  is  a  practical  side  which  must  not  be  ignored, 
neither  should  it  be  overestimated.  In  the  words  of  Jolni 
Ruskin  :  "Try  first  to  manufacture  a  Raphael ;  then  let  Raphael 
direct  your  manufacture.  He  will  design  you  a  plate,  or  cup, 
or  a  house,  or  a  palace,  whenever  you  want  it,  and  design  them 
in  the  most  convenient  and  rational  way;  but  do  not  let  your 
anxiety  to  reach  the  platter  and  the  cup  interfere  with  your  ed- 
ucation of  the  Raphael.  Obtain  first  the  best  work  you  can, 
and  the  ablest  hands,  irrespective  of  any  consideration  of 
economy  or  facility  of  production.  Then  leave  your  trained 
artist  to  determine  how  far  art  can  be  popularized  or  manu- 
facture ennobled." 

Whatever  scheme  of  color  teaching  is  decided  upon,  two 
lines  of  thought  must  be  followed.  First,  the  development  of 
the  color  sense ;  second,  the  expression  by  some  color  material 
of  the  color  sensations  made  upon  the  brain.  Here  we  must 
decide  too,  upon  one  of  two  distinct  lines  of  work,  construe- 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM,  85 

lion  and  decoration,  or  trne  painting,  and  in  our  choice  we 
nuist  be  guided  by  careful  thought.  At  many  points  the  two 
coincide,  yet  the  princi})les  of  cok^r  underlying  them  are  dif- 
ferent, and  it  follows  of  necessity  that  the  uses  of  color  in  its 
application  to  them  must  be  different. 

As  soon  as  the  child  makes  pleasing  arrangements  with  solids 
or  tablets  he  has  begun  his  work  in  construction  and  decora- 
tion, and  as  soon  as  the  element  of  color  enters  into  these  com- 
binations the  teaching  of  color  should  begin. 

In  the  development  of  the  color  sense,  teach  always  by  com- 
parison. The  reasons  for  this  have  already  been  set  forth  in 
the  previous  chapters.  The  careful  teacher  should  soon  be  able 
to  detect  any  marked  degree  of  color  blindness.  In  this  branch, 
as  in  all  others,  some  show  quick  perceptions,  while  others  are 
dull,  yet  only  a  little  more  time  and  patience  may  prove  that 
the  perceptive  faculties  of   the  dull  are  really  normal. 

At  iirst,  simple  arrangements  of  tablets  may  be  used.  Fol- 
lowing the  teaching  of  the  sphere,  pleasing  arrangements  of 
colored  circles  may  be  taught.  Begin  with  simple  repetition, 
using  but  one  color,  and  for  this  first  work  use  one  of  the 
standards.  Then  teach  alternation,  using  a  standard  and  its 
lint,  ^'ery  pleasing  borders  can  be  arranged  in  this  way.  Fol- 
lowing the  study  of  the  cubes,  similar  arrangement  in  squares 
can  be  given;  next  introduce  the  use  of  the  shade.  Lead 
children  to  see  a  scale  of  color  ranging  from  light  tint  to  dark 
shade.     Tell  the  children  little,  lead  them  to  see  much. 

When  the  cylinder  is  studied  the  oblong  is  added.  After  the 
hemisphere  the  semi-circle.  The  quatrefoil  can  now  be  intro- 
duced. Simple  rosettes  can  be  made,  teaching  repetition  round 
a  center.  In  all  work  in  design  the  center  should  be  one  fifth 
the  diameter  of  the  background.  Place  units  so  as  to  cover 
the  background  well. 

As  many  of  our  primary  schools  have  the  kindergarten  fold- 
ing and  weaving,  the  color  lessons  should  apply  to  these  as 
well.  All  who  have  the  sewing  cards,  so  useful  to  fix  patterns 
of  solids  and   pleasing  designs,   have  another  opportunity  of 


86  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-BOOM. 

applying  the  color  teaching,  as  the  thread  is  manufactured  in 
the  standards.  In  short,  do  not  allow  the  children  to  simply 
construct  pretty  things.  Make  all  this  work  an  application  of 
the  color  lessons.  In  the  first  year's  work  confine  all  combina- 
tions to  standard  and  tint,  or  standard  and  shade. 

The  teacher  should  understand  the  science  of  color,  but  it  is 
not  necessary  or  wise  to  attempt  to  teach  it  in  the  school-room 
to  young  children.  The  child  if  left  to  himself  will  often 
choose  a  combination  of  bright  colors  not  at  all  pleasing,  per- 
haps even  false  to  all  principles  of  true  harmony.  The  teacher 
should  so  guide  her  work  as  to  make  inharmonious  combina- 
tions impossible.  The  child  will  thus  receive  an  unconscious 
training  in  the  principles  of  true  harmony.  There  are  simple 
combinations  of  beauty  and  strength,  and  it  is  wise  to  adhere 
to  these  in  our  first  lessons. 

In  the  second  year  the  work  of  the  first  should  be  reviewed. 
Patterns  of  the  solids  can  be  pasted  in  colored  papers  and  cut 
out  and  folded  into  the  hollow  form.  As  the  triangular  prisms 
are  studied  we  have  opportunity  for  many  new  designs  with  the 
triangles  and  in  combination  with  forms  previously  studied. 
Now  combine  two  tints  or  two  shades  of  the  same  color,  in 
addition  to  the  combinations  of  the  previous  year.  The  four- 
pointed  star,  the  Maltese,  Greek  and  Latin  crosses  and  other 
pleasing  forms  may  be  folded,  and  cut  from  the  4-inch  colored 
squares.  As  the  ellipsoid  and  ovoid  are  studied,  borders  of 
ellipses  and  ovals  cut  in  color  by  aid  of  tablets,  and  designs, 
using  these  as  units  on  a  colored  background,  may  be  intro- 
duced. Be  careful  to  adhere  to  the  same  law  of  desio-n  and  of 
color  combinations.  The  background  of  a  standard  and  the 
units  of  a  tint,  or  the  background  of  a  shade  and  the  units  of 
a  standard  or  tint  of  the  same  color,  are  safe  combinations. 

Fix  the  scales  of  color.  After  the  study  of  the  cone  and 
pyramid  the  new  triangle,  isosceles,  is  introduced,  from  which 
pleasing  borders  and  stars  may  be  made.  The  full  pattern  of 
the  square  pyramid  makes  a  very  pretty  basket  which  the 
children  delight  in  when  cut  in  color. 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  87 

In  the  tliird  year,  after  reviewiiiii"  tlie  color  work  of  the  two 
previous  yt'iii's,  we  can  enlarge  our  work  by  tlie  teaching  of 
hues  and  contrasts.  This  brings  us  to  the  more  scientific 
study  of  color,  some  i)rincii)les  of  which  can  merely  ])e  out- 
lined   in  the  present  chapter. 

In  all  our  previous  combinations  we  have  chosen  two  colors 
from  some  part  of  the  scale  of  one  color.  AVe  have  avoided 
any  combinations  of  two  standards.  Let  us  now  look  at  a 
reason  for  this.  AVe  wish  to  hold  the  children  to  the  truth 
in  nature  and  art,  as  expressed  in  decoration  and  painting. 
A'olumes  have  been  written  on  this  subject,  teaching  has  been 
carefully  and  wisely  given,  and  y^i  we  are  constantly  having 
our  color  nature  shocked  by  bad  combinations  in  design  and 
dress.  AVe  want  to  so  teach  that  no  woman  will  enter  church 
with  a  violet  gown  and  a  bonnet  trimmed  with  blue  forget-me- 
nots,  a  combination  which  made  me  shudder  as  I  looked  at  it 
and  knew  that  it  was  worn  by  an  educated  woman  and  a  teacher. 

Kuskin  tells  us:  ''As  to  the  choice  and  harmony  of  colors 
in  general,  if  you  cannot  choose  and  harmonize  them  by  in- 
stinct, you  will  never  do  it  at  all."  Yet  I  have  seen  children, 
who,  when  they  first  entered  school,  would  be  delighted  at  loud 
and  coarse  combinations  of  red  and  yellow,  green  and  purple, 
etc.,  but  after  three  years  careful  teaching  would  express  their 
feelings  toward  such  combinations  by  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders 
and  a  very  wrj^  face.  Ruskin  was  no  doubt  right  in  that  none 
can  become  true  artists,  without  the  inborn  artistic  feeling  for 
color.  To  such  color  becomes  poetry,  and  they  will  instantly 
perceive  the  color  melodies  in  nature.  But  we  can  do  much 
to  teach  the  prose  of  color  to  the  masses,  making  them  far 
better  qualified  to  understand  and  appreciate  and  be  uplifted 
b}'  the  tiue  poems  from  the  hand  of  a  more  gifted  genius. 

The  proper  combination  of  colors  in  a  picture  or  design 
produces  harmony.  The  following  proposition  has  often  been 
given  and  is  largely  accepted  :  AVhen  colors  are  so  combined 
that  the  mixture  of  the  whole  will  produce  a  neutral  gray, 
then  we  have  true  harmony. 


88  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

This  proportion  has  been  given  as  5  parts  red,  3  yellow  and 
8  of  blue ;  also  8  parts  orange,  11  green  and  13  purple  will  pro- 
duce the  same  result,  and  19  parts  citrine,  21  parts  of  russet 
and  24  parts  of  a  mixture  of  olive  green  and  purple.  But 
some  scientists  disclaim  this  rule  entirely,  saying  it  is  based  on 
false  conclusions  and  if  strictly  adhered  to  will  give  very  un- 
pleasant results.  AVhile  we  may  teach  the  children  to  make 
simple  and  harmonic  combinations,  the  problem  of  the  exact 
balancing  of  colors  must  be  left  to  the  true  artist. 

Every  color  has  its  complementary.  A  color  placed  be- 
side its  complementary  increases  the  luminous  power  of  both. 
Red  is  much  more  brilliant  when  seen  beside  green,  blue  with 
orange,  j^ellow  with  purple.  As  has  been  before  stated,  if  we 
consider  the  spectrum  as  a  chromatic  circle,  the  colors  coming 
opposite  each  other  would  be  complementary,  that  is,  they 
will  be  in  harmonious  contrast.  If  we  put  red  and  purple 
together  we  feel  at  once  the  discord ;  there  is  no  harmony 
in  the  contrast,  each  is  harmful  to  the  other.  If  we  place 
red  with  green,  we  at  once  feel  the  harmony,  yet  the  contrast 
is  too  loud  and  coarse  to  give  us  pleasure.  Tlie  same  is  true  of 
blue  and  orange,  3^ellow  and  violet  in  their  full  strengths.  As 
a  result  of  the  contrasts  we  have  force,  not  necessarily  the  lack 
of  harmony.  Primarily  then,  never  use  the  complementaries  to- 
gether in  their  full  strength.  Many  of  their  delicate  tints,  deep 
shades  and  hues  can  be  employed  with  beautiful  effects. 

The  children  can  easily  be  taught  to  perceive  the  comple- 
mentaries by  experiments  similar  to  those  noted  in  Chapter  IX. 

Each  color  seems  to  surround  itself  with  its  complementary 
color.  As  soon  as  the  eye  is  fatigued  with  one  color  it  is  not 
able  to  see  it,  and  its  complementary  comes  in  its  stead. 

We  should  not  think  of  contrast  and  harmony  as  the  reverse 
of  each  other.  We  may  have  harmony  either  with  or  without 
contrast.  Colors  are  continually  affected  by  their  surround- 
ings. Harmony  must  guide  compositions,  but  if  contrasts  are 
introduced  the  effect  should  be  rather  in  the  nature  of  a  sur- 
prise than  a  shock. 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 


81) 


Colors  are  often  materially  changed  by  placing:  them  on  differ- 
ent backgrounds.  A  large  number  of  experiments  can  l)e  used 
to  illustrate  this  fact.  One  set  which  may  be  easily  ])repared 
for  use  in  the  third  year's  work  is  as  follows  :  Take  sheets  of 
paper  about  10  x  12,  varying  in  color  from  pure  white,  through 
light  grny  and  dark  gray  to  black.  Place  4-inch  disks  of  pale 
blue  paper  in  the  center  of  each.  Then  lead  the  children  to  ob- 
serve results.  On  the  white  the  disk  appears  the  true  color,  on 
the  light  gray  it  becomes  somewhat  paler,  increasing  in  pale- 
ness on  dark  gray,  while  on  the  black  it  appears  almost  white. 
Change  the  color  of  the  disk,  using  all  the  colors  in  turn. 

An  anecdote  illustrative  of  this  point  is  told  by  Chevreul  in 
his  o-reat  work  on  the  simultaneous  contrasts  of  colors.  Certain 
dealers  wished  to  ornament  some  blue,  violet  blue  and  plain 
red  woven  stuffs  with  black  patterns,  so  the  directions  were 
given  to  the  manufacturers.  AVhen  the  goods  came  back  the 
dealers  thought  them  wrong  and  declared  the  patterns  were  not 
black.  Those  traced  on  the  blue  w'ere  copper  colored,  those  on 
the  violet,  dark  greenish  yellow,  and  on  the  red,  green. 
Chevreul  covered  the  goods  with  white  paper,  so  that  only  the 
traced  patterns  could  be  seen,  when  it  was  found  to  be  a  true 
black,  the  previous  effect  being  entirely  due  to  contrast.  Had 
the  pattern  been  made  by  black  mixed  with  a  slight  tone  of  the 
ground,  instead  of  pure  black,  the  effect  would  have  been  what 
the  manufacturers  wished. 

When  contrasting  colors  differ  much  in  strength,  the  weaker 
one  will  seem  still  more  feeble  and  the  darker  one  more  intense, 
unless  the  colors  are  complementary,  when  each  will  be  rendered 
jnirer  and  more  luminous. 

]Many  of  our  most  beautiful  effects  are  made  by  careful  and 
varied  gradations  of  color,  the  orderly  succession  of  tints 
gently  blending  into  each  other.  Some  of  our  finest  artists 
owe  their  triumph  far  more  to  gradations  than  contrasts. 
Ogden  Rood  draws  a  parallel  between  the  effect  of  grada- 
tion in  color  and  the  effect  of  modulation  of  tone  and  thought 
in  oratory. 


90  COLOR  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

The  foregoing  are  but  hints  of  the  laws  governing  contrast 
and  harmon3%  but  our  space  does  not  permit  more.  Teachers 
should  make  themselves  well  acquainted  with  this  branch  of 
the  science,  that  their  application  for  the  children  will  not 
deny  the  truth. 

The  teaching  of  hues  of  the  colors  will  be  a  little  more  diffi- 
cult, but  if  the  teacher  has  the  rotating  disk,  the  work  becomes 
very  simple. 

AVe  have  studied  color  in  its  three  degrees  :  Tint,  or  color 
lightened,  standard  color  or  its  natural  appearance  and  shade, 
or  color  darkened.  Hues  are  obtained  by  combining  a  small 
portion  of  one  color  with  another  color.  If  we  combine  a 
small  portion  of  orange  with  red  we  have  an  orange  hue  of 
red,  etc. 

The  application  of  these  in  combinations  for  design  give  us 
a  very  large  field  to  choose  from,  and  truly  artistic  designs  can 
be  made.     Avoid  all  strong  contrasts. 

Beside  the  work  in  design,  ornamental  patterns  of  shields, 
fans,  stars,  etc.,  can  be  made  from  the  papers.  As  the  scales 
of  color  are  furnished  in  the  hues  as  well  as  the  standards,  the 
sam6  rule  of  composition  as  before  may  be  effectively  used. 
All  colors  may  be  safely  employed  with  neutral  grays,  although 
some  will  be  rendered  more  luminous,  others  less  so. 

If  at  the  end  of  the  primary  work,  the  children  have 
thorough^  mastered  the  standards  of  colors,  their  tints  and 
shades  in  a  full  scale  of  color,  the  hues  and  their  scales  of 
color,  and  the  complementaries,  they  will  have  gained  such 
a  knowledge  that  nature  will  become  to  them  a  new  language, 
because  their  eyes  have  been  opened  to  perceive  its  manifold 
beauties  and  endless  harmonies. 

The  accompanying  thirty-six  suggestive  designs  are  pre- 
sented to  aid  teachers  in  the  use  of  colored  papers  or  water 
colors,  and  illustrate  repetition,  repetition  and  alternation, 
repetition  around  a  center  and  surface  coverings. 

Figures  1,  3,  19,  22,  teach  simple  repetition,  using  but  one 
color. 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 


91 


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92 


COLOR   IN  THE   SCHOOL-ROOM. 


COLOR   IN  THE   SCHOOL-BOOM.  93 

Fio^iires  2,  4,  5,  G,  7,  10,  20,  21,  teach  repetition  and  alter- 
nation, using  a  standard  and  tint,  or  standard  and  shade,  or 
tint  and  shade  of  the  same  color. 

Figures  8  and  9  teach  overlapping,  using  two  tones  from  the 
same  color  scale.  [ 

Figures  11,  12,  13,  14,  23  teach  repetition  about  a  center. 
For  colors  use  combinations  as  in  borders  described  above. 

Figures  15,  16,  17,  are  arrangements  for  all-over  designs, 
suitable  for  tiling. 

Figure  18  is  the  quarterfoil  made  by  pasting  four  semi- 
circles touching  the  edges  of  a  square. 

Figures  24,  26,  27,  are  borders  made  on  a  colored  back- 
ground. Use  two  or  three  tones  from  the  same  color  scale,  or 
combine  tones  of  the  same  scale  with  a  neutral  gray. 

Figures  25,  28,  30,  34,  are  repetitions  around  a  center  on 
a  colored  back-ground. 

Figure  29.  Arrange  ellipses  of  one  color  and  triangles  of  a 
tint  of  the  same  color. 

Figure  31.  Use  all  triangles  of  one  color  and  semi-circles 
of  a  shade  or  tint  of  the  color  or  the  reverse. 

Figures  35,  36.  Add  the  horizontal  colored  strip  at  the 
edges.  It  is  pleasing  when  made  of  neutral  gray  or  the  same 
color  as  one  of  the  units. 

Figures  32,  33.  Use  a  color  with  its  tint  and  shade  or  a 
neutral  gray. 

These  designs  and  many  others  constructed  on  the  same 
principles  may  be  made  with  water  colors  as  well  as  in  the 
colored  papers,  but  in  water  colors  the  designs  should  be  larger 
to  allow  free  handling  of  the  brush. 


ij4  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

WATER  COLORS  IN    THE   SCHOOL-ROOM. 


BY   MISS  JEANNIE   C.   McKECHNIE. 


IX  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  sought  to  show  some  of 
the  reasons  for  teaching  color  and  have  given  some  sug- 
gestions as  an  aid  to  such  teaching  with  the  colored  papers. 
There  is  good  reason  why  the  use  of  paper  should  precede  that 
of  any  other  color  material,  for  in  the  papers  as  now  manu- 
factured we  can  get  truer  standards  and  purer  scales  of  color 
than  by  paint  or  pigment  in  the  hands  of  the  children.  But 
having  gained  the  foundation  work  with  tlie  papers,  having 
trained  the  children  to  accurate  perceptions  of  color,  they  are 
now  ready  to  express  by  paint  these  color  impressions  which 
they  have  been  receiving.  By  the  cutting  and  pasting  lessons 
they  have  been  trained  to  acuteness  of  thought,  carefulness 
in  application,  neatness  and  accuracy,  as  well  as  in  color 
sensations. 

In  the  teaching  of  color  by  the  use  of  moist  paints  the 
children  meet  with  many  difficulties  which  can  be  overcome 
only  by  the  most  careful  teaching  and  patient  practice. 

The  use  of  paints  involves  a  method  in  application,  and  the 
children  should  be  taught  how  to  paint  while  learning  the  prin- 
ciples of  correct  coloring.  All  methods,  to  insure  success, 
must  be  systematic.  In  the  teaching  of  water  colors,  then,  we 
should  begin  at  the  foundation. 

Of  necessity,  the  first  thing  to  be  considered  is  the  selection 
of  materials.  I  do  not  feel  that  the  cheaper  color  boxes  yet 
contain  all  the  elements  of  success  in  the  teaching  of    color, 


COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 


95 


still  some  excellent  results  are  being  obtained  b}'  them.  The 
briislies  of  the  small  boxes  are  com|);\ratively  of  little  value, 
as  thev  are  by  far  too  small  to  allow  any  bold,  free,  wet 
handliuii".  As  delicate  lines  and  points  can  be  made  with 
a  large  as  with  a  snuiU  brush.  Each  child  should  be  pro- 
vided with  paints,  brush,  color  block,  blotter  or  soft  cloth, 
and,  if  possible,  a  sponge  to  absorb  superfluous  water  from 
the  brush.  The  block  should  rest  on  an  inclined  surface. 
That  of  the  desk  is  usually  not  sufficient,  a  slant  of  about 
5  inches    in  12  inches  being  required. 

The  first  lesson  should  consist  of  instruction  in  the  use  of 
materials,  i.  e.,  how  to  fill  the  brush  with  water,  turn  it  to  a 
good  point,  how  to  take  out  color  from  the  pan  and  mix  it 
in  the  mixing  tin.  The  next  step  is  the  making  of  a  flat  wash. 
It  is  often  wise,  especially  with  young  children,  to  teach  the 
use  of  water  alone  at  first,  until  they  have  learned  to  follow 
directions. 

After  filling  the  brush  moderately  full  of  water  begin  at  the 
upper  edge  of  the  surface  to  be  colored,  working  with  the  side 
of  the  brush  from  left  to  right  and  from  the  top  downward, 
using  the  point  of  the  brush  onl}^  for  lines  and  filling  in  cor- 
ners. The  brush  should  be  kept  full.  All  superfluous  water 
will  flow  downward  and  collect  at  the  bottom,  where  it  can  be 
taken  up  by  blotter  or  cloth,  or  the  brush  itself,  partially  dried 
and  flattened  and  then  just  touched  to  the  paj^er.  Care  should 
be  taken  not  to  allow  the  brush  to  come  outside  the  lines. 

When  the  children  have  learned  to  follow  these  directions, 
they  are  ready  for  the  color  wash,  Avhich  should  be  applied  in 
the  same  way.  Oblongs  2  inches  x  4  inches  are  none  to  large 
for  these  first  lessons,  where  we  wish  to  gain,  as  before  stated, 
a  bold,  free,  wet  handling. 

The  result  should  be  a  perfectly  even  flat  wash.  If  the 
children  work  too  slowly,  some  of  the  color  will  dry  before  the 
next  stroke  of  the  brush  touches  it.  If  the  brush  is  not  re- 
plenished often,  the  wash  will  look  uneven,  because  the  color 
grows  lighter  as  the  brush  exhausts  itself  and  the  next  apj)li- 


96  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

cation  will  have  more  color,  thus  giving  the  wash  a  cloudy 
appearance.  The  color  should  be  flowed  over  the  surface  with- 
out rubbing  it  in  and  there  should  always  be  a  puddle  of  water 
entirely  across  the  space  being  closed  while  the  brush  is  being 
replenished. 

It  will  be  found  that  tints  will  be  laid  on  much  more  evenly 
than  full  colors,  and  the  most  artistic  coloring  is  by  repeated 
washes  of  the  tints,  but  this  is  too  ditticult  for  the  children  at 
first,  and  it  is  wiser  to  let  them  put  on  a  heavier  color  in  one 
wash.  If  three  oblongs  are  drawn  on  the  pads,  one  may  be 
colored  red,  a  second  yellow  and  the  third  blue. 

The  children  should  next  be  taught  to  make  a  scale  of  color. 
White  should  never  be  used  in  water  colors,  as  the  addition  of 
water  will  produce  tints  from  the  deepest  to  the  most  delicate. 
These  can  be  taught  either  by  the  mixing  of  tints  of  varying 
tone  and  applying  each  separately  to  a  surface,  or  by  a  graded 
wash.  This  consists  in  starting  with  the  full  oolor  and  by 
gradually  adding  water,  ending  with  the  palest  tint  that  can  be 
made.  Then  start  with  the  full  color  and  gradually  add  full 
black  or  neutral  tint  to  end  with  the  deepest  shade.  The 
scale  consists  of  the  color  from  lightest  tint  to  darkest  shade, 
or  the  reverse.  Neutral  tint  gives  much  more  delicate  shades 
than  the  black.  Full  scales  of  red,  blue  and  yellow  should 
be  made. 

Following  this  comes  the  teaching  of  the  mixing  of  colors. 
The  children  now  learn  that  yellow  and  blue  will  make  green, 
that  yellow  and  red  produce  orange,  and  red  and  blue  give 
purple.  We  may  make  a  choice  of  designs  to  apply  these 
colors.  Circles  may  be  drawn.  Divide  one  into  halves,  leav- 
ing a  small  space  of  white  along  the  diameter.  Color  one 
half  blue,  the  other  half  yellow.  Below  draw  a  circle  of  the 
same  size,  filling  it  with  green,  the  color  obtained  by  mixing  the 
two.  In  the  next  circles,  use  red  and  yellow  in  the  same  way 
with  the  full  circle  of  orange  and  in  the  third,  red  and  blue 
and  the  full  circle  of  purple.  A  teacher's  tact  and  experience 
will  guide   her   in   her   choice   of  designs.     Scales   of   green. 


COLOR  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  97 

orauge  and  purple  should  follow  this  in  the  same  way  as  the 
preceding  scales. 

We  can  now  apply  these  washes  to  simple  designs.  As  ac- 
curate drawing  is  necessary  in  all  designs,  the  tablets  may  be 
used  to  advantage  in  preparation  for  the  color  lesson.  Borders 
similar  to  those  that  have  been  arranged  from  the  colored  papers 
and  afterward  drawn,  can  now  be  colored.  Avoid  all  coarse 
and  loud  combinations  or  strong  contrasts.  Much  work  in 
the  simple  coloring  should  be  given  before  complementary  or 
liarmonic  coloring  is  attempted.  In  short,  the  suggestions 
given  in  the  preceding  chapter  apply  with  equal  force  to  the 
combinations  of  water  colors. 

Dulled  scales  of  color  should  be  taught.  These  are  made 
by  mixing  neutral  gray  with  all  the  tones  of  the  scale.  These 
are  often  much  pleasanter  in  combinations  than  the  colors  in 
their  full  strength.  Any  color  may  be  used  with  a  neutral 
gray.  The  same  law  of  harmonies  as  stated  in  the  preceding 
chapter  holds  true  and  need  not  be  repeated  here. 

Many  very  pleasing  designs  may  now  be  made  by  adding  a 
background  either  from  the  same  scale  of  color  as  the  units  of 
design  or  some  tone  of  gray.  If  any  contrasts  are  used  let 
them  be  of  the  most  delicate  nature.  I  think  it  wiser  to  avoid 
them  altogether  in  the  first  lessons.  It  seems  to  me  a  subject 
the  application  which  can  be  safely  left  to  higher  grade  work, 
as  it  requires  the  most  careful  thought  to  use  them  in  their 
proper  and  pleasing  proportions. 

Then  tiie  mixing  of  the  so-called  tertiaries,  citrine,  olive  and 
russet  may  be  given.  Orange  and  green  make  citrine,  or  the 
yellow  tertiary,  orange  and  purple  make  russet  or  the  red 
tertiary,  purple  and  green  make  olive  or  the  blue  tertiary.  The 
teaching  of  each  new  color  should  be  followed  by  its  scale  of 
color. 

The  secondaries  and  tertiaries  harmonize  after  the  same  law 
as  the  primaries.  For  instance,  if  you  wish  the  tertiary  which 
harmonizes  with  orange,  recall  the  primary  which  harmonizes 
with  orange,  which   is  blue.     Then  the  blue  tertiary  or  olive 


1)8  COLOR   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

will  harmonize  with  orange.  The  harmony  between  secondaries 
and  tertiaries  is  much  more  subtle  and  delicate  than  between 
primaries  and  secondaries. 

A  large  wash  of  a  tertiary  with  an  outline  or  a  touch  of  a 
primar}^  gives  very  pleasing  effects.  Outlining  units  in  design 
with  tints  or  shades  of  their  own  color  also  gives  pleasing 
effects  through  contrast. 

All  these  may  be  applied  in  borders,  rossettes,  bilateral  forms 
and  face  designs,  though  for  the  first  few  years  I  would  confine 
the  work  to  large  surfaces,  leaving  the  designs  of  the  small 
units  until  the  children  are  perfectl}'  familiar  with  the  handling 
of  the  brush  and  application  of  color  in  a  flat  wash. 

In  all  designs  arrange  the  units  to  cover  the  surface  well 
and  be  careful  to  have  well-balanced  margins. 

The  eft'ect  of  different  backgrounds  on  the  same  color  may 
be  taught  by  painting  a  central  disk  of  color  and  surround- 
ing it  by  backgrounds  of  varying  tones. 

In  connection  with  the  theory  of  color  the  children  may  be 
taught  the  representation  of  form  if  there  is  but  little  round- 
ness. Leaves  from  nature,  some  insects,  butterflies,  moths 
etc.,  so  placed  as  to  show  little  perspective  may  be  easily  ac- 
complished. Color  in  the  round  should  not  be  taught  until  the 
pupils  have  a  thorough  understanding  of  light  and  shade.  In 
connection  with  the  study  of  botanic  analysis  the  coloring  of 
the  different  elements  of  motives  from  plant  life  may  be  taught. 
These  can  then  be  used  in  design.  From  this  we  can  go  on  to 
historic  ornament  in  teaching  the  different  styles. 

These  are  but  suggestions  of  a  most  interesting  and  attrac- 
tive line  of  work.  Know  thoroughly  what  you  ought  to  do 
"Make  the  theory  of  the  subject  your  servant.  Do  not  be  a 
slave  to  its  laws." 


COLOR  IN  THE  SCHOOIl-'RQQMi  •/•'•..  ;  :•  Ji) 

",    .  •'••   •      •  * '  '*   ***,*•!!* 

SAMPLES  OF  COLOKED  PAPERS. 

We  append  a  number  of  samples  selected  from  the  educa- 
tional coloied  papers  prepared  by  Milton  Bradley  Company  f(jr 
piimary  instruction.  Tliis  selection  comprises  less  than  one 
ikiU"  the  entire  line,  and  contains  the  six  spectrum  standards 
and  two  intermediate  hues  between  each  two  standards.  Be- 
yond these  tliere  is  a  somewhat  miscellaneous  selection  of  the 
tints  and  shades  of  these  standards  and  various  combina- 
tions of  the  orange,  green  violet,  etc.  The  samples  are  desig- 
nated by  symbols,  in  which  R.  is  red,  O.  orange,  Y.  yellow,  G. 
green,  B.  blue,  V.  violet,  T.  tint,  S.  shade.  P.  is  introduced  for 
convenience,  although  it  should  be  composed  of  R.  and  B.  As 
there  are  in  the  full  line  two  tints  and  two  shades  of  each  stand- 
ard the  numbers  1  and  2  ai-e  used.  Thus  "R.  T.  1."  is  red 
tint  No.  1,  "R.  8.  2."  is  red  shade  No.  2,  "Y.  G.  S."  yellow 
green  shade,  etc. 

Little  practical  use  can  be  made  of  colors  bound  into  a  book, 
because  they  cannot  be  re-arranged  and  contrasted  with  each 
other  separated  from  the  other  colors  by  which  they  are  in- 
fluenced, but  they  are  valuable  as  illustrating  something  of  the 
systematic  methods  of  teaching  which  are  made  possible  with 
selections  from  the  entire  list.  AVe  also  hope  that  the  nomen- 
clature will  prove  of  special  interest  as  designating  colors  which 
have  louij;  been  familiar  under  meaningless  names. 

The  following  list  of  letters  indicates  the  colored  papers  in 
the  order  which  they  occur,  the  collection  comprising  samples 
of  about  one  half  the  colors  which  we  manufacture  : — 

O.  &  V. 
V.  O. 
V.  O.  8. 
V.  &  G. 
G.  V. 
G.  \.  8. 
O.  &  r. 
P.  O. 
P.  O.  8. 
P.  G.  8. 
G.  &  P. 
G.  &  P.  8. 
G.  P.  8. 
Gray  2. 


K. 

T. 

R. 

R. 

8. 

2. 

0. 

R. 

R. 

(). 

(). 

T. 

(). 

O. 

8. 

1. 

(). 

8. 

2. 

Y. 

0. 

(). 

Y. 

Y. 

T. 

Y , 

Y. 

Y. 

S. 

'Ji  • 

G. 

Y. 

X.  G. 

Y.  G. 

8 

G.  T. 

1. 

G. 

G.  8. 

2. 

B.  G. 

G.  B. 

G.  B. 

8. 

B.  T. 

1. 

B. 

B.  8. 

2. 

V.  B. 

B.  V. 

B.  V. 

8. 

V. 

T. 

1. 

V. 

V. 

8. 

1. 

V. 

8. 

2. 

R. 

V. 

V. 

R. 

R. 

P. 

P. 

B. 

P. 

0. 

G. 

0. 

&G. 

G. 

0. 

G. 

0. 

8. 

0. 

V. 

•i :  .-R.  V:A. 


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Y.  S.  2. 


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/' ';      '' 


GRAY  2. 


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